The road trip
by TheMightyE
Summary: "Well then, sire, it seems like I'm not wanted here so I'll just leave then shall I?" he said and promptly teleported out of the throne room and out of his life in Camelot. After revealing his magic Merlin is forced to leave Camelot after the king sentenced him to death. Merlin decides to go on a road trip through Albion. Includes kidnapping and Freylin.
1. The reveal

**I am really sorry about any grammar mistakes and things like that, my English is not that good. **

**I don't own Merlin.**

_Merlin was standing in the throne room, hopelessly looking at the man he had given everything for, the man he loved like a brother, and now he knew. Arthur Pendragon knew his darkest secret, the one he had been keeping all his life. The one secret he had been taught to never ever tell anyone, to protect at all costs. Arthur knew he had magic and he hated him for it. _

It had started of like any other day, the sun was shining, and Merlin had just woken the prat up and was walking around cleaning Arthurs chambers and humming to himself, much to the king's annoyance.

"Stop humming Merlin, it's annoying" he suddenly burst out.

Merlin stopped what he was doing and turned to look at the king "Why sire, do you want me to sing instead" he asked with a cheeky smile and started singing in a high and cheery voice.

_Oh the night that Paddy Murphy died, is a night I'll never forget_

_Some of the boys got loaded drunk, and they ain't got sober yet;_

_As long as a bottle was passed around every man was feelin' gay_

_O'Leary came with the bagpipes, some music for to play_

_That's how they showed their respect for Paddy Murphy_

_That's how they…_

"MERLIN!"

"Yes sire" The servant smiled daring him to throw something at him.

"Stop singing"

Merlin gave him an innocent look "But sire I thought you wanted me to sing…"

"Why on Earth would I want you to sing?"

"Because of my lovely voice of course, sire it can tame even the most royal prats you know," replied Merlin happily.

"You couldn't tame a kitten with that voice Merlin"

Merlin smiled "I'll have you know that a lot of kittens like my singing"

"Oh really enlighten me then" Arthur said cocking an eyebrow

"Well first there's Snowball, Dingleberry, Cuddles McArthur, Abel, Tummysticks, Bernard, Gi-Gi" Merlin started to count off his fingers "and then there's my personal favourite Zoe and…"

"That is the worst cat names I've ever heard, who on earth came up with them?"

Merlin smiled proudly "I did of course"

"And you are wondering why I call you an idiot" Arthur sighted "come on Merlin I'm already late for the council meeting"

They walked out the door and towards the throne room with Merlin still prattling about cat names.

-:Break:-

The council meeting was boring as usual, Merlin stood at his usual spot behind Arthur with a pitcher of wine in his hands. How on earth did they manage to make the meetings so boring he thought as he hid a yawn behind his hand. They are always taking about the same things, taxes, arrogant lords and yeah more taxes.

Suddenly the doors to the throne room burst open and a man wearing a dark cloak strode in with a big evil smirk covering his face. Okay I take it back, maybe they aren't so boring after all. Merlin thought as all of the knights and Arthur rose from theirs seats and got ready for an attack.

" Who are you" Arthur demanded

The man just cackled and answered "I am the one who's going to make you pay for your crimes against magic Pendragon" Oh great another vengeful sorcerer wanting to kill Arthur, time to save the day again Merlin thought and got ready to use his magic.

"You are a sorcerer" Arthur accused

"Yes I am, prepare to die" the sorcerer screamed and sent a fireball heading straight towards Arthur.

Merlin watched in horror as he realised that Arthur wasn't going to move out of the way fast enough.

"Arthur!" He screamed and felt how his eyes turned gold as he slowed down time and ran to stand in front of Arthur. "Scildan" he screamed and a golden shield appeared in front of his raised hand, Merlin felt how the fireball hit his shield but it stood firm and he slowly lowered his arm.

"Nobody harms Arthur Pendragon, do you hear me?!" he said in a strong voice, trying to ignore all the accusing eyes that were staring at him.

"You traitor!" the sorcerer screamed firing an other fireball, Merlin just calmly raised a hand and the fire melted of the back of his hand.

"I am not the traitor here," he said calmly "How do you expect people accept magic, when all you do is to use it for evil?"

"THEY MURDERED THOUSANDS OF US, AND YET YOU STAND BY THEM, PROTECTING THEM, THEY ARE THE ENEMY!" the sorcerer screamed.

"Arthur is not his father, he is a great king, you have to give him a chance. There has been enough bloodshed," Merlin pleaded, he really didn't want to kill another one of his kind.

"How can you say that!?" "Ástríce" the sorcerer fired a spell towards Merlin who easily defected it without a word. "Hleap on bæc" the now panicked man tried again.

"I truly am sorry" Merlin said sadly as he deflected the spell and slowly started walking towards him. The sorcerer was now casting spell after spell against Merlin but it was hopeless, the warlock walked over to him and gently placed a hand on the man's forehead and softly murmured some words, and the man fell unconscious to the floor.

Merlin took a deep breath and slowly turned around and prepared himself to face his king.

Arthur was staring at him with a betrayed and angry look on his face.

"You have magic! How could you betray me like this?" the king screamed.

"Arthur please just let me explain, you don't understand" Merlin begged looking at him with a wounded expression.

"You are a traitor, you have practiced magic this whole time, how could you do this to me?!"

Merlin suddenly felt rage build up inside him, how dare he call him a traitor before even listening to him "After all we have been through, after all I have done for you. Will you really just kill me before even letting me explain?" he asked angrily

Arthur looked a bit shocked at his suddenly angry tone but still looked him straight in the eye when he answered him "Yes, magic is evil, and those who practise it deserve to die."

Merlin looked around at all his friends only to see angry and betrayed eyes looking back at him. Gwaine, Percival, Leon, Elyan even Gwen how could they just cast him aside without a moments thought, didn't he even deserve a chance to explain himself? Apparently not. Then he looked to his right to see Gaius looking at him with a worried and sad expression, he gave his mentor a sad smile and turned to face Arthur again.

"Well then, _sire, _it seems like I'm not wanted here so I'll just leave then shall I?" he said and promptly teleported out of the throne room and out of his life in Camelot.

**I know that Arthur and the others probably wouldn't be so unforgiving, but I needed them to be in this fic, and it's not totally OOC, is it? Please let me know what you think and if you think I should continue. **


	2. The bird

Chapter 2

**I've decided to continue this story so yeah here is chapter two. And please forgive me for any grammar mistakes and things like that. **

**I don't own Merlin. **

When Merlin's teleportation spell ended he just couldn't take it anymore. He fell to his knees and cried, he had revealed his magic in front of everyone and now they hated him for it. They wouldn't even let him explain. Even after all these years they wouldn't even give him a chance, he supposed he had deserved a lot of screaming and anger and he was okay with that. But not letting him explain and just sentence him to death. That was the last straw. He felt so angry and disappointed, so he just left, but now he just felt empty, what was he going to do now?

He didn't think they were going to hunt him for very long though. They were never going to catch him anyway, he wasn't Emrys for nothing after all. But he had nothing but his clothes and some money in his pocket, which he had planned to buy some new clothes for at the market. Well that's always something he thought.

But where was he going? Everything felt so hopeless. He couldn't go to his mother, he would only put her in danger. But he had no idea where to go, he could go anywhere… _he could go anywhere, _he was suddenly filled with a sense of freedom, _he could go anywhere, anywhere he wanted. _There was no prat to protect, no chores, just him and the world. Maybe this was exactly what he needed? No plans, no duties, no nothing, just some "time off" to just live for a couple of months, and then we'll see what happens.

He wanted to be a new person, not Merlin the manservant, he wanted to be Emrys the warlock. He was going to move around a lot so he didn't need to be so careful anymore, and the other kingdoms weren't as strict with magic as Camelot. It was still banned though. But as long as he was careful and didn't draw attention to himself he was going to be fine. Suddenly feeling happy and free, he decided to go to the nearest village and buy himself some food and a place to stay the night. This could be actually be fun he thought and started looking around.

When he teleported he was trying to get to the outer parts of Camelot, but he realised he couldn't know if he actually got there or not. At least not with his normal senses, but there where other ways of course, he thought and smiled knowingly to himself.

Merlin took a deep breath and let his magic feel for him. He focused and felt his eyes flash gold. He was suddenly seeing a whole new world. The trees where greener, the birds and the wind louder, he could sense every animal, every leaf. He could feel the forest just pumping with life, he could feel the forest breathing and he relaxed for a moment and just stood there, breathing with the nature.

He smiled to himself, he had always loved doing this. When he first realised he could to it he was overjoyed, it was a wonderful feeling, to just relax and be one with the forest. Feeling and seeing life itself flash before his eyes, he could never get tired of it. When he had time over he always went out and sat down in a glade somewhere, he could sit like that for hours.

Suddenly realising he had lost himself for a moment, he shook himself and focused on the task at hand. He let his magic extend way longer than his eyes could ever hope to see and he followed a path through the forest until he suddenly realised he knew where he was. It actually _was _in the outer parts of Camelot, he and Arthur had been there once on some sort of a quest, and now that he thought about it he realised that there was a village a couple of miles from where he was standing. He smiled and let go of his magic, and he was once again standing in the small glade.

Merlin decided to walk to the village, it would be way to risky to teleport, he could end up right in front of someone. So he started walking on the small path he had seen with his magic. Ha began whistling to himself as he walked and enjoyed the sun and his freedom for a couple of minutes.

When he had walked for a while he suddenly heard a strange bird whistle. It almost sounded like the tune he was whistling on. He tried again, and he heard the strange bird answer him once again. He looked around in search for the bird and spotted some kind of raptor sitting at a low branch looking at him with curious black eyes.

"Hello there, I'm Merlin," he said.

The bird just continued looking at him and let out another whistle.

"And who might you be?"

The bird just kept looking at him. Merlin carefully walked closer to it, trying to find out what kind of raptor it was.

It was clearly some kind of falcon he realised when he had gotten a bit closer, and not just any kind of falcon …

Oh you got to be kidding me, he thought, it was a Merlin. It was clearly a male with its grey-blue back and white chest with black spots.

Merlin carefully walked even closer to the bird and whistled the tune again, the bird shifted uneasy but answered him with an identical whistle. Now that Merlin only was a couple of meters from the bird he realised something was wrong with it. 

His left wing was bent in an unnatural angle and was bleeding slightly. It was without a doubt broken, and Merlin felt his heart break for the small bird. "Oh you poor thing" he murmured and walked the last couple meters to the falcon, who where now even more uneasy and was looking really scared, if birds could look scared that is.

"Hey hey, take it easy, I'm not going to hurt you" Merlin tried to reassure the bird.

"I just want to take a look at your wing." As if the bird understood him, he calmed down slightly and stopped moving around.

"Thank you" Merlin said smiling.

"Now let me look at that wing" he said and carefully took the wing in his hands. Merlin realised that without magical means the bird would never be able to fly again, it's a good thing I have magic then he thought.

He closed his eyes in concentration and slowly guided his instinctive magic into the bird's wing. He let it find the break, and slowly, slowly started mending the bones together, guiding them back to their places and when he was finished he opened his eyes and removed his hands.

The bird looked at his now healed wing and started moving it around a bit, when it realised it could do that without a problem it let out a shriek and threw itself of the low hanging branch and started flapping his wings in a steady rhythm until it was sailing around in the treetops letting out happy shrieks now and then. Merlin looked at the happy bird with a big smile on his face, how could anyone think magic was evil when it could do things like this?

Merlin sat down on the wet grass and continued watching the happy falcon who where now making all kinds of flying tricks. Suddenly it took an abrupt turn and pressed it wings against it's body. The Merlin was heading right towards him and it wasn't slowing down, it was going faster and faster, and Merlin was actually getting a little worried, was it going to attack him or something?

But right before it was about to crash into him it let out his wide wings and slowed down enough to be able to land on Merlin's shoulder.

He laughed, "Hello again, feeling better now are you?" The merlin let out a happy whistle in response. The falcon looked at him expectantly, as if to say "well what are you waiting for, let's go"

Merlin laughed again "So you have decided to stick with me then? Well, then you have to have a name, I can't just call you bird now can I?" The Merlin let out a whistle in response.

Merlin scratched the bird's head thoughtfully "hmm how about… Buzz, hmm noo… Faith, noo… Falcor, hmm maybe… No, I've got it: Kali" "Kali" He tried again "hmm I like that… what do you think?" The falcon shrieked happily in answer, "Well then Kali it is." Merlin smiled at the small raptor.

"Well come on Kali we have to reach that village before it gets dark" Merlin said and rose to his feet and started walking with Kali still on his shoulder.

**I know Kali can be a girls name sometimes, but I know I guy who's called Kali, and I thought it was fitting, don't ask me why though. **

**Do you want me to write a bit about what's going on in Camelot, or do you want me to focus on Merlin? I will of course write a bit about what's going on there, but I don't know how much… and if you want Merlin to go somewhere or meet someone, please let me know and I might use it…**

**Anyway, I hoped you liked it and I would be really really happy if you let me know what you think. **


	3. Gwen understands and Arthur is angry

**Please forgive me for any grammar mistakes and such.**

**I don't own Merlin.**

After Merlin disappeared a deadly silence followed. Nobody dared to move, or speak, hell nobody dared to breathe. The king's own manservant turned out to be a sorcerer. The king himself was still standing frozen looking at the spot his servant just disappeared from. He suddenly shook himself and said in a strong emotionless voice "Take the sorcerer to the dungeons, he is to be executed at dawn tomorrow. And send out a search party, I want the other one found" he didn't even have to say who "the other one" was, everyone understood him anyway, if it was because of how his mask broke when he said it or if it was for another reason nobody knew.

Sir Leon was the first one of the knights to break out of his shock and bowed and replied with a steady "yes sire" that apparently was enough to for the others to "wake up" to, as they also bowed and walked after Leon through the door.

After the knights had left, the king turned to the remaining part of the people inside the room and said "council dismissed" and he stalked out of the room tightly followed by his wife.

At first Gwen couldn't believe her own eyes. Merlin was the last person she ever would have accused of sorcery. But when she realised that Merlin really was a sorcerer. She felt so sad and betrayed, why didn't he tell her? Why had he lied to everyone for all these years? How could he do this to them?

It wasn't until it was too late that she realised that he might not have a choice, magic was banned after all. She suddenly felt sorry for Merlin, it must have been so lonely for him, and he must have been so scared. Sweet innocent Merlin who couldn't even watch when Arthur killed an animal on a hunt. How could someone like him be evil? How could Merlin be like all the other terrible sorcerers she had seen? The answer was clear: he wasn't. Merlin could never be evil, and if someone like Merlin had magic then magic couldn't be completely evil.

But when she realised that Merlin was already gone, he had left because he thought he wasn't wanted. But he couldn't have been more wrong, Arthur needed him, they needed him, hell the whole kingdom needed him. And she knew that he would be missed, especially by Arthur. So that's why she ran after her husband, when he walked out of the throne room, she had to talk some sense into him.

"Arthur! Arthur!" she screamed after him.

He reluctantly stopped, and turned to look at her with an emotionless mask.

"Yes Guinevere" he answered her.

"Arthur please, you have to stop and think this through," she begged him.

"Think what through? He is a sorcerer, the law is clear." he looked at her with an angry expression.

"Arthur you have to let him explain… it's Merlin for gods sake"

"But that's just the thing, it's not Merlin, because Merlin never existed, he was never the clumsy, innocent manservant we've come to love. He was always lying to us, betraying us. _He was just like everybody else."_ He muttered the last part quietly to himself but Gwen heard him anyway and winced at the memory of her own betrayal but she didn't give up.

"Of course it's Merlin, he didn't have a choice, magic is banned"

"Yes it is, and if it's one thing I've learned then it's that magic is evil, and nothing will ever be able to change my opinion about that. And Merlin knows that so why on earth would he start practising it?!"

Gwen didn't have an answer to that so she just looked at her husband with a sad expression. "I don't know Arthur, I don't know."

"I thought so" he said and marched away towards their chambers, leaving Guinevere standing alone in the corridor looking at her husband's disappearing back.

Happy, clumsy, manservant Merlin was a sorcerer. Arthur still couldn't believe it, even after seeing and hearing it with his own eyes and ears. You could think that it was just the shock, but even now, a long time after he found out. When he was sitting alone in his chambers, he still couldn't believe it.

How could he betray him like that, Arthur had trusted him, Merlin was the only one he could really trust, and now he had betrayed him in the worst possible way. He had magic, and considering how easily he defeated that sorcerer he was a powerful one too.

Arthur was so sad, so disappointed but above all he was angry. His best friend, no not anymore, his ex-friend had lied to him for years, after all they had been through, why didn't he tell him?

Never mind that, why did he start to practise magic in the first place? What could possibly make him start practicing the evil art?

Arthur only knew one person who could answer those questions and that was Merlin himself, but he was gone, and Arthur wasn't ready to talk to him anyway, to be honest he wasn't sure if he would ever be able to talk to him again.

**I know this chapter was really short but I hope you liked it anyway.**

**Please let me know what you think, because I am really nervous about posting this chapter.**


	4. Trouble

**Here's the next chapter. I'm sorry for any grammar mistakes and things like that. **

**I don't own Merlin.**

When Merlin and Kali reached the village the sun was already setting. And it was starting to get hard to see where he was setting his feet, he thought of conjuring some sort of light, but thought better of it, there's no need to get careless after all.

Merlin walked into the small village with Kali still on his shoulders. There weren't many people out on the small street, but those who were there were looking at Kali and him strangely. There's not everyday you see someone with a Merlin on his shoulders after all. Merlin just smiled in response and started walking towards the town's small tavern.

The tavern was a pretty ruff looking building, it looked like it had been there forever, the only thing that looked new was the name "The lantern". He turned to his bird and said" "perhaps it would be best if you stayed outside for a while, I'll open my window for you later" the bird whistled in response and took of to the sky. Merlin looked after him smiling to himself, he really was a smart bird.

Merlin walked through the wooden door and was suddenly surrounded by the smell of mead and the sound of laughing drunken men. Merlin zigzagged his way through the room towards the bar desk, where he saw a happy looking man taking an order from a guest.

"Hello, do you have a room over?" he asked the man with a smile.

He turned to look at him had said in a rough voice. "We sure do mate, how many nights are you staying?"

"I'm not sure yet one or two I think."

"Okay, if you go up those stairs, it's the first door to the right." He pointed towards the stairs at the end of the room"

"Thank you" Merlin replied and walked up to his room.

It wasn't a very fancy room but it was all right, it only had two things in it; a clean bed and a wooden desk but Merlin didn't need anything else, he didn't even have any more clothes. _Hmm I have to buy some supplies tomorrow._

Merlin walked over to the window and stuck out his head and whistled the tune he was whistling when he first met Kali, and was answered by him as he flied down and landed on the windowsill.

"Hello Kali" he said and scratched the bird on his head, Kali leaned into his hand in response.

"We really should go to bed Kali, it's been a long day" _Well that was the understatement of the year._ He thought as he took his shoes of and lied down in the bed. Kali found a comfortable place at the desk and promptly fell asleep tightly followed by Merlin.

When Merlin woke up it was already 10 am. And Kali was already awake, happily walking around in the small room. "Let's get some breakfast shall we Kali?" the bird chirped happily in response. "I'll meet you outside then"

Merlin walked down the stairs and out the door, only stopping to ask the man he got the room from if he could keep the room for a couple of more hours, as he wasn't sure if he would stay another night or not.

When he got out Kali was already waiting for him, and flew down to sit at his shoulder when he spotted Merlin.

They stopped at the baker's stand, to buy some bread for breakfast before they continued through the market. Next stop was at the clothes stand, where he bought a dark blue cloak, _I really look in a sorcerer in this he thought, but whatever, it looks cool and mysterious, _he also bought two new blue shirts in a little finer material and then one he was currently wearing.

They also stopped to buy a backpack and a small dagger before Merlin was satisfied and decided to go back to the tavern.

Merlin stopped right outside the door to let Kali fly up to their window before walking in. The tavern was already full of people eating and drinking and Merlin had a hard time trying to get across the room to the stairs but before he had even gotten halfway, a big man got in his way, and Merlin accidently bumped into him.

"I'm sorry I didn't see you there" Merlin apologised.

The man turned to look at him with a thunderous expression on his face, and then Merlin realised that his shirt was stained with mead, _oh now please tell me that wasn't my fault, I really don't want to get in a fight with him._ Which no one could really blame him for, the man was huge. He actually looked really creepy Merlin thought. He was only wearing black clothes and he had a big scar over his right eye. He looked like one of those men you really don't want to meet in a dark alley, now that Merlin came to think about it, you wouldn't want to meet him in a tavern either.

"You're SORRY?!" the man screamed at him "You made me spill mead all over my shirt."

Before Merlin could stop his big mouth he had replied the man in a protesting voice, "Oh come on, it wasn't just my fault and it's just a small stain, it's easy to wash of…"

The man suddenly looked very dark and replied in a low dangerous voice "What did you say?"

Merlin realised that this wasn't going very well and swallowed nervously. "Umm… you know what, I'll just go up to my room and get…"

"You are not going anywhere!" By now the whole tavern had gone quiet and were watching them with courius expressions.

The man suddenly raised a giant fist and started to swing it towards Merlin who saw it just in time and managed to duck, but the fist continued and hit the man who was standing behind Merlin. Who almost fell over with the force of the punch but quickly recovered and punched the man back in the face, and suddenly everyone was fighting.

Oh great, just what I needed, an other tavern brawl, Merlin thought sarcastically.

He started ducking his way through the fight towards the bar desk, he needed to get out of here, but he'll be damned if he didn't pay for his room first. After a lot of dodging and ducking he reached the desk and saw the happy man he had ordered the room from in the first place, but he didn't look very happy now as he desperately tried to save some of his plates and glasses.  
"Hey I just wanted to pay for my room" Merlin said as he ducked when a chair came flying just where his head had been a second ago.

The man looked at him in surprise and said "Well look at that, an honest man for once, that's not something you see often around here"'

"So how much do I owe you?" Merlin asked.

"3 silver coins"

Merlin quickly gave the man his money and said smiling "My name is Merlin by the way"

"Nice to meet you Merlin, I'm Josef" he answered and suddenly threw one of the plates at something behind Merlin. The warlock turned around to find out what on earth he was doing, and saw one scary looking man knocked out on the floor. He turned around in shock and saw a smug looking Josef "This is not my first tavern brawl you know."

Merlin suddenly sensed someone coming behind him and shot up elbow straight into his face and said, "It isn't my first either." Josef only laughed in response and Merlin started fighting his way towards the door.

After a lot of ducking, dodging and throwing he finally got out. _Oh god it feels good to breathe fresh air _again he thought as he whistled on Kali who came down to fly next to him as he hurried towards the woods.

But he didn't get far before he was stopped by a group of angry looking men, and in the middle of them all stood the man from the bar looking very, very angry.

**Come on Merlin wouldn't be Merlin unless he got into trouble?**

**Please let me know what you think, it would make my day;)**


	5. He needs time

**Just so you know, I won't be able to update as often as I do now, because I start school tomorrow. **

**Please forgive me for any grammar mistakes and such. **

**I don't own Merlin.**

Gwaine was riding through the forest with the other knights, looking for the runaway sorcerer. He was trying not to think about who exactly the runaway sorcerer was. He had to shut out his feelings and just get on with it. He didn't really understand what they were doing though, the sorcerer could be anywhere. He had teleported out of the throne room after all.

Although nothing made sense to Gwaine anymore, Merlin was a sorcerer. His best friend had been lying to him this whole time, even after Gwaine had told him _his_ darkest secret.* It wasn't so much the magic that was the problem, it was the betrayal, and the lies. And besides what was a sorcerer doing in Camelot if he wasn't going to try to get revenge for something? It probably was something about Merlin's father, he remembered that Merlin had said that his father was banished for something, maybe he was a sorcerer or something. But nothing made sense, if he wanted revenge for his father, or whatever, why wasn't Arthur dead? Merlin had saved all of their asses plenty of times, why on earth would he do that if he was a traitor… ahh his head hurt. Then he realised there was one person who might have the answers he was looking for, he was definitely going to pay a visit to Gaius after this pointless searching was over.

-:Break:-

Gaius was doing his normal duties as usual, but his mind was not there at all. All he could think about was Merlin, the poor boy was all alone out there, all his friends had turned against him and they hadn't even stopped to let him explain. Gaius had been thinking about going to Arthur and demanding that he would let Gaius explain for Merlin, but thought better of it, Arthur would only get mad and he would never be willing to listen to him. The king needed time. Suddenly he heard someone knocking and he called for him or her to come in.

To his surprise he saw a confused looking sir Gwaine walking in and said in a hesitant voice. "I was wondering if you could explain a few things."

Finally someone with at least half a brain he thought and smiled "I think you should sit down Sir Gwaine, because this could take a while."

After Gaius was done talking Gwaine just sat there staring at nothing, different feelings flashing over his face, shame, regret, sadness, awe and finally rage, a deep and murderous rage. He suddenly focused on Gaius "I'm going to have a chat with that idiot king." he said and stormed out the door before Gaius had a chance to stop him. _Oh dear, I better get some bandages and painkillers ready _he thought sighing.

All Gwaine could think about was the rage he felt boiling inside of him. He was angry at himself, angry at Merlin, the selfless idiot, but above all he was angry at Arthur. How could he be so blind? How could _all_ of them be so blind, Merlin had been saving their asses more times than he could count, and all he got in return was harsh words and execution.

He reached his destination and stormed into the king's and queen's chambers, where Arthur was sitting at his desk doing paperwork, as if nothing had changed. He looked up at the noise and said in a bored voice, "Can't you learn to knock Gwaine?."

"No, and do you know who else can't learn to knock? Merlin." he said in an angry voice.

Arthur looked up at the sound of his ex-manservant's name and saw Gwaine´s thunderous expression. "Gwaine, you know as well as I do, that Merlin was a traitor, so why are you angry with me?"

"A traitor!? A traitor?! How can you call him a traitor, do you have any idea how many times he has saved your ungrateful ass?!"

"That was just a trick to get on my good side, he is a evil sorcerer and a liar."

Gwaine started laughing madly, "A trick? Oh you are so blind Arthur Pendragon, you are a blind, pafetic excuse to a king, and you never deserved Merlin."

"That's enough Sir Gwaine, I am your king and you will show me some respect."

Gwaine only laughed even louder and said "YOU are not my king, and you never were! Did you know that the only reason I even helped you in the first place in the Perilous Lands was because of Merlin, it had nothing to do with you, I did it because of Merlin. It has always been because of Merlin, he was the reason I helped you take back Camelot, and became a knight."

Arthur suddenly turned dark and rose form his seat and walked closer to him "Don't talk about him like he's still your friend. He is nothing but a filthy sorcerer."

That was the last straw for Gwaine and he launched himself at Arthur and started throwing punches, Arthur was quick to respond and the fight had begun.

Arthur got in a hit on Gwaine´s face who was quick to respond with a kick in the king's stomach who grunted and doubled over in pain, Gwaine walked closer thinking the fight was over only to get another punch in the face from Arthur who suddenly called "Guards!" Only a second later two guards came storming in and ran over to restrain Gwaine. Who had just recovered form Arthurs's punch and started struggling against the guards grip, but when he realised he wasn't going anywhere he started screaming insults at the king, who looked unbothered by them and said " Take him to the dungeons, and call for Gaius to take care his injures."

"Yes sire" the guards replied and walked a still shouting Gwaine out the door and to the dungeons.

When a guard stopped by to tell Gaius that he was needed in the dungeons he wasn't surprised at all. I knew it was going to end like this he thought sighing and walked down to the dungeons. He walked over to a dirty looking cell and saw a murderous looking Gwaine trying to get out of the shackles around his wrists to no avail. When he looked up to see Gaius standing outside looking at him he said in a angry voice, "Gaius you wouldn't believe the nerve of that man he…." Gaius abruptly cut him of in a equally angry voice "What I can't believe is how stupid you can be sometimes Gwaine"

Gwaine blinked in surprise "Me?"

"Yes you! What did you think you were going to archive confronting Arthur like that?!"

"I can't just stand by and let Arthur do this to him"

"Yes that is exactly what you are going to do, there's nothing else you can do, Arthur needs time."

Before Gwaine had a chance to respond Gaius screamed for a guard to let him in to look at his injures, and a guard came and unlocked the door.

Gaius walked in and started to take care of Gwaine´s now very black eye.

"This doesn't feel right Gaius, it's not right, Merlin doesn't deserve this"

Gaius just looked at him sadly "I know Gwaine, but there's nothing we can do, Arthur need to figure out this himself, and god knows how long that will take."

***About Gwaine´s father, in season 3 episode 4.**

**Wow, this was a fun but hard chapter to write, I'm not sure if I'm pleased with it or not….**

**Please let me know what you think about this chapter!;)**


	6. What!

**I had a really short school day today so I got time to write a short chapter. **

**I'm sorry for any grammar mistakes and things like that. **

**I don't own Merlin**

_But he didn't get far before he was stopped by a group of angry looking men, and in the middle of them all stood the man from the bar looking very, very angry. _

Oh crap, I'm screwed.

"Hello again whelp" the man said.

"Hello, again." Merlin replied trying to sound casual but failing miserably.

"So, where are you running away to?" the man sneered.

Okay, I am so not getting out of this alive unless I use magic he thought, great, so much for laying low.

"First of all, I'm not running I'm walking, and second of all, why should I tell you? I don't even know your name," Merlin said with a teasing grin, suddenly feeling more confident when he had decided he was going to use magic.

The man only laughed at him and replied smiling "The name is Bryce, and who might you be?"

"My name is Emrys, you may have heard of me from the druids. I am the most powerful sorcerer who has ever lived, pleasure to meet you," Merlin smiled happily, if he was going to reveal himself, why couldn't he have a little fun while doing it?

All of the men just blinked at him in surprise and promptly started laughing. _Why does nobody ever believe me, it's not that big of a stretch is it?_ Merlin thought irritated, well there are other ways to make sure that they believe me he thought smirking, and let his eyes glow gold.

5 of Bryce men went flying until they hit a tree or stone and fell unconscious. The remaining quickly stopped laughing and stared at him in shock. But before they got a chance to draw their weapons and charge at him, Merlin raised a hand and five more men went flying. Now only 7 of the men were standing and they had drawn their swords, but Merlin lowered himself into a crouch and put a hand on the ground and whispered " Ic þe bebiede þæt þu abifest nu" and the ground suddenly started to shake causing the remaining men to fall, and while they were distracted Merlin sent another spell their way and he was standing alone among a dozen of unconscious men, looking very pleased with himself.

"Well that was easy," he said to Kali who had landed at his shoulder as soon as he had defeated the men.

He hurried away from the scene, surprised that no one had noticed them already.

_**30 min later**_

When Bryce woke up he had a terrible headache, but he didn't have time to think about that. The boy really was Emrys, he couldn't believe his luck. He had just found the most powerful sorcerer in the world, he could easily imagine what he could do with that kind of power. Oh this was going to be his best hunt ever, he thought smirking evilly and fingering on the silver cuffs he had attached to his belt.

-:Break:-

After a while when they had gotten deeper into the forest, Merlin started to wonder where he was going now. He had to get away from that village, that's for sure. Perhaps there are some druids close by, I haven't been around magical people in a long time, and it would be nice not having to hide all the time for a while.

With that decided, he started to listen with his mind, trying to hear the voices he normally tried to shut out. He started hearing whispers of people and he started to walk towards them. As he got closer the voices were starting to sound louder and louder he suddenly reached a clearing, where a small druid camp was. As he and Kali carefully approached the settlements more and more people started to notice him, they started whispering among each other "Emrys, Emrys" "Lord Emrys is here."

He reached the settlement's center and walked over to a man in a darkgreen cloak, who obviously was the leader. The leader bowed his head and said in a respectful voice "it's an honour to meet you lord Emrys, my name is Ricgeon."

"Please there's no need for of that lord stuff," he said smiling.

"As you wish Emrys. Now what brings you to our humble home?"

"Umm.. Well…" Merlin started slightly embarrassed.

"Perhaps it's best if we take this conversation somewhere more private?" Ricgeon said gazing meaningfully on the gathered crowd.

Merlin smiled "Yes perhaps" and the druid motioned to a big tent at the end of the camp.

They walked in and Ricgeon motioned Merlin to sit down on a small chair. Kali who still sat on his shoulders suddenly spotted some bread in a basket in the corner of the room and whistled happily and started flying towards it, before Merlin stopped him. "No Kali don't be rude." The bird looked annoyed at him but flied back to sit on his shoulder again.

Ricgeon laughed and said, "Go ahead, it's no problem" Kali gave Merlin a triumphant look and flied over and started eating the bread.

"Thank you" Merlin said smiling "He is a raptor, but for some reason he loves bread."

Ricgeon laughed again and said, "It's an interesting companion you got there Emrys."

"Yeah Kali is one of a kind."

The druid smiled knowingly "But so are you, so what brings you here Emrys."

Merlin ashamed started telling his story, about how he revealed his magic and he now was on the run. At the end of his story, he had expected disappointment, maybe even a bit of anger, he had failed his destiny after all. But the druid leader just smiled "There's still hope Emrys." but before Merlin got a chance to ask what he meant the druid interrupted him "Well you may stay here as long as you like Emrys."

Overwhelmed by the offer Merlin gladly accepted and thanked him.

-:Break:-

He had eaten with the rest of the camp and been asked a million questions "Is it true that you were born with magic?" "Are you a dragon lord?" "Did you really zap Nimueh with lightning?" Merlin did his best to answer but how they knew half of the things they asked about he had no idea.

As he walked towards his tent he had been given he saw a girl, probably a few years younger than himself, walking with a basket of clothes. It was nothing really special about her, she was wearing a blue worn-out dress and her dark brown hair was tied up in a bun. But he stopped an looked more closely at the girl, she reminded him of someone, someone he hadn't seen in a very long time.

"Freya?"

**I am really not happy with this chapter, but I hope you like it anyway.**

**Please let me know what you think!:)**


	7. Kilgarrah

**Please forgive me for any grammar mistakes and other things like that.**

**I don't own Merlin.**

Arthur was walking towards the training grounds when it happened. He heard a strange flapping noise coming from the sky. He looked up and saw a black spot, coming closer and closer. _What on earth is that? Is it a bird? It has to be a very big bird if that was the case…_

"The bird" was even closer now, and he suddenly realised what it was "DRAGON!" he roared and drew his sword as people also spotted the dragon and started screaming and running towards the castle. He was soon joined by his knights, including a newly released Gwaine.

The dragon roared as it got even closer but it surprisingly didn't attack, instead it landed in the courtyard and turned its gigantic head to look at him and said in a calm voice, " We meet again Arthur Pendragon, and under slightly different circumstances don't you think?"

Said king almost fell over in shock, not only because it TALKED, _how on earth could it talk?!_ But also because that he suddenly realised that he had met that dragon before. "How are you alive? I killed you!" The king raised his sword a bit threateningly.

The dragon merely looked at him and _was that a grin? "_You didn't kill me, my lord ordered me away. And please put that thing away, I'm not here to attack you, my lord have forbidden me anyway."

Arthur stared in surprise and realised that he was probably right and put his sword away and he heard the rest of his knights doing the same.

"Your lord? But Balinor, the last dragonlord died, I should know I was there after all."

The dragon suddenly looked sad "Indeed he did, but when he died his powers were passed over to his son."

"What… but that's impossible, he didn't have a son."

The dragon sighed, "Of course he did, I just told you didn't I?"

"But who…?" Arthur was still confused, while all of the knights looked at him in shock, did he really not get it?

"Oh dear, if this is the once and future king, I fear for the world" the dragon said looking worried, and then quietly to himself "Maybe Merlin was right for a change, maybe he_ is_ an idiot.*"

But Arthur heard the last part too, "You mean that you know Merlin."

The dragon looked even more worried "Yes of course I do."

Then it suddenly hit him, "oh… OH, Merlin is…"

"Yes indeed he is."

Arthur was horrified, Balinor was Merlin's father and he had told him that no man was worth his tears: Oh my god, how could he do that to his frien... no he's not his friend anymore. He had betrayed him, lied to him, he had magic. But then he suddenly remembered the look on Merlin's face when he left the throne room, he looked so heartbroken, so sad… could he really be on their side…? NO SORCERERS ARE EVIL, an voice replied in his head, sounding a lot like his father.

He suddenly realised that he still didn't know why the dragon was here.

"Why are you here anyway?" he asked, sounding more confident than he was feeling.

"That is of no matter, you have to find Merlin and let him explain!"

Arthur suddenly went angry, "Why should I?! He is a traitor and a liar!"

The dragon looked grave "You are a fool if you think he is a traitor. He has saved you more times than you can count and you're not even sad that he's gone?"

Arthur suddenly went quiet, was he sad that Merlin was gone? Yes he was, he missed his clumsy servant, the one he could trust to always be at his side, but that Merlin didn't exist anymore, maybe he never had.

When he didn't answer Kilgarrah only smiled knowingly, "I see"

Arthur who suddenly really didn't feel like thinking about his ex-manservant quickly changed subject. "Why did you choose to reveal that you were alive anyway?"

The dragon gave him a look that clearly said that he had seen right through him but still answered. "I wanted to make sure of something and I was right, there's no reason for me to hide anymore when the time of Albion is almost upon us."

What on earth was he talking about Arthur thought, but before he got a chance to ask him the dragon started to fly away and leaving Arthur standing among his surprisingly quiet knights, with A LOT of unanswered questions. 

_Is he always this annoyingly cryptic?_

***The first time Kilgarrah and Merlin met. **

**I know that this was a REALLY short chapter, but I didn´t have time for a longer one. Do you think that I should write short chapters (Longer than this one though) and update almost every day or longer ones and update maybe 4 times a week?**

**Anyway, please let me know what you think:) **


	8. Together again

**I actually finished this chapter last night, but I wanted to read it through when I wasn't half asleep so I waited.**

**Please forgive me for any grammar mistakes and such.**

**I don't own Merlin.**

_As he walked towards his tent he had been given he saw a girl, probably a few years younger than himself, walking with a basket of clothes. It was nothing really special about her, she was wearing a blue worn-out dress and her dark brown hair was tied up in a bun. But he stopped and looked more closely at the girl, she reminded him of someone, someone he hadn't seen in a very long time._

"_Freya?"_

The girl turned around and Merlin felt his knees go weak, oh god, it was really her! It was his Freya, she was really there, still just standing there staring right into his eyes with those beautiful eyes. How could she be here, she had died in his arms, it didn't matter now, all that mattered was that she was here.

Suddenly the spell broke and Freya dropped the basket she was holding and started running towards him, he also broke into a run and the met halfway embracing each other, holding each other as if they were never letting the other go. Merlin felt tears running down his face, Freya was alive, somehow she was in his arms again. He heard her murmuring his name again and again. They just stood there for minutes crying and embracing each other.

They finally broke apart, and he looked at her beautiful tear streaked face, "Oh god Freya I thought I was never going to see you again," She looked at him still crying and said "Neither did I, I've missed you so much Merlin"

"And I have missed you" he suddenly couldn't hold himself anymore and leaded forward and pressed his lips against hers. It was a desperate, needing, sweet kiss, teasing just like e remembered, like strawberries on a hot summer day.

They broke apart again and pressed their foreheads against each others looking deep into the others eyes.

"How are you here Freya? How are you alive?"

"It doesn't matter now, all that matters are that we are together."

"We have been given a second chance."

Their moment was suddenly interrupted by a voice "Ehh Emrys do you know Freya?"

The couple turned to look at a surprised looking Ricgeon, wow I think I have never seen a druid leader surprised before Merlin thought as he answered. "Umm yeah."

Freya looked at him in surprise "Emrys? As in the Emrys?"

Merlin rubbed the back of his neck embarrassed "Well yes…." Please don't hate me, please don't hate me he thought desperately.

But Freya only smiled proudly "My boyfriend is Emrys, that's kind of cool."

Merlin breathed out in relief, but then he realised something "Boyfriend? Am I your boyfriend?"

Freya looked shyly at him, "Well yes…. If you don't mind of course"

"No no absolutely not, I don't mind at all" he said slightly flustered.

Freya leaned forward and kissed the warlock again and Merlin was only to eager to response.

Ricgeon realised that they had already forgotten about him and walked away from the still kissing couple.

-:Break:-

Merlin and Freya was sitting in Merlin's new tent, it was already dark outside and they had spent the day together, just enjoying each other's company, Kali had been with them to and had suprisingly actually liked Freya. The bird had been unfriendly towards everyone else but Merlin before that.

"Freya, are you still cursed?" Merlin suddenly asked carefully.

"No I'm, not, ever since I got back I've been free from it." She smiled.

Merlin let out a sigh in relief and smiled, "We can be together now, forever."

"Yes forever." But her smile didn't reach her eyes and she looked down into her lap.

Merlin noticed and reached out to touch her hand gently, "What's wrong?"

She looked up, "Nothing, it's nothing" She smiled again, but her tear-filled eyes gave her away.

"Freya what is it?" he gently asked again.

"Merlin please just leave it, it's doesn't matter now."

"Freya…"

"Please, just leave it."

Merlin hesitantly nodded, she will tell him when she's ready.

Freya drew closer to him and curled up against his chest and he smiled down at her and held his arms around her, leaning his head at her head breathing in the smell of his beloved Freya.

-:Break:-

When Freya woke up it's was already light outside and she was laying in Merlin's bed, with the man himself, laying next to her. She smiled, so it wasn't a dream after all, he really was here with her. Oh god how she had missed him.

She lied bed for a couple of more minutes before she gently murmured Merlin's name and shook his shoulder slightly. The warlock slowly opened his ice blue eyes and smiled sleepily when he saw her. "Good morning love" she said smiling.

"Good morning" he answered and slowly sat up his eyes never leaving her face.

She smiled "We should get some breakfast."

"Yeah" he agreed and they quickly got dressed and they walked out of the tent where the rest of the camp was already up and was making breakfast. That's how it worked among the druids, everyone did everything together, the helped each other. Everyone had different jobs, some hunted, some cooked, some washed and so on.

Freya and some other people took care of half the camps clothes just like she had done in her last camp before she was cursed. She actually liked it, it was easy and it always made her calm for some reason.

But she knew that the others knew about Merlin and her and they understood that they needed some time for themselves so she could take it easy for a while. As they walked towards the fireplace where everyone was eating breakfast she felt a soft hand sneak into hers and she smiled knowingly looking at a shy looking Merlin, but Freya smiled in response and took his hand in hers and they walked the last part to the fireplace, and sat down with the other druids, feeling like everything was perfect.

**I think I am going to write chapters witch are a little longer than this one, (I felt like it was a good place to stop) and just update when I have time. **

**I am going to write a couple of chapter only about what happens to Merlin now, I feel like we are kind of done with Camelot for a while… or what do you think?**

**I actually wasn't going to bring Freya back, I was only going to make the girl her sister, but then I watched the episode (The lady of the lake) to refresh my memory and I couldn't do it! I had made big plans and everything but I just felt horrible so I brought her back, and had to change everything but, yeah, I am just to weak…. **

**Anyway I hoped you liked this chapter, it was really hard to get Freya right, she was only in one episode after all, but I did my best.**

**Please tell me what you think, was it good, bad, terrible?**


	9. Taken

**Please forgive me for any grammar mistakes and such.**

**I don't own Merlin.**

_**4 days later**_

Merlin had just like everybody else gotten a "job" to do at the cam, first the druids had insisted that he didn't need to, with him being the great lord Emrys and everything, but he insisted had finally got as he wished. He was one of the "hunters" in the camp, he was actually a pretty good hunter, he just didn't like doing it for fun like Arthur did, and a bit of magic didn't help.

He was walking towards the camp with a couple of rabbits hanging over his shoulder when he saw smoke coming from the camp, and it wasn't the ordinary smoke, no this was more, far more. Suddenly worried Merlin dropped the rabbits and started running towards the camp.

When he got there all he could do was to stare in horror of what he saw, there was fires everywhere and everyone was running around panicked trying to extinguish the fire. Merlin was ripped from his shock by a panicked scream, he turned and saw a very big looking man holding a girl by her throat, he was laughing madly and the girl was desperately trying to get lose. Merlin flew into action, he wasn't Emrys for nothing and he had been training a lot with the druids, the past days.

He lifted a hand and pointed it at the man who was forced to drop the girl as his own throat was suddenly being squeezed. Merlin held him until he fell unconscious and he concentrated and let his eyes wander to the sky "Tídrénas" he ordered and it stared raining. The druids stopped their own attempts to extinguish the fire and looked at him with gratitude in their eyes, but it didn't last long as they suddenly heard a battle roar and about 30 men came running from the woods with weapons drawn. _Oh no, I should have realised that the other man wasn't alone, how stupid can you get? _Merlin asked himself as he readied his magic, along with some other druids. As the rest of them started running towards the forest. Merlin launched himself into battle, firing spell after spell. It was going well, and it looked like they were winning, and Merlin it stopped raining after a while. But just when he was about to fire another spell towards a nasty looking man, he heard a familiar sounding laugh, _no, it couldn't be how had he found him? _

Merlin turned to see Bryce standing at the end of the camp, but it wasn't the man himself that got Merlin to freeze, it was what the man next to him was doing. He was holding a terrified looking Freya, with a knife at her throat. Oh god why didn't she run, but of course she wouldn't he thought, she was way to kind to do that, she would do everything in her power to help others.

"So you really are Emrys, huh, now that was a surprise," Bryce said happily. The fighting stopped and everything seemed to freeze, the druids looked questioningly at Merlin, wondering what they should do. Merlin turned to look at them "Go," he said and they hesitantly started walking away. When everyone was out of range Merlin turned his attention back to Bryce and Freya.

"Let her go," he said in a threatening voice.

"I don't think so, she is a great leverage you see, one wrong move and bye bye Freya," Bryce said looking very pleased with himself.

"Please, she has nothing to do with this,"

"Oh but I think she does, you see I have been informed that you two are pretty close isn't that right?" he said leaning closer into Freya's face, who tried to lean away from the disgusting man.

"What do you want?" Merlin growled through gritted teeth.

"I want you my dear Emrys, you could not imagine what they pay for powerful sorcerers these days" He said grinning.

Now he understood, Bryce was some kind of bounty hunter or slave trader of some kind. Great just his luck, he really didn't see a way out of this one

"Fine, just leave her out of it" he said.

"Of course" Bryce grinned. "Just let us put these lovely things on and we let her go," he held up a pair of silver cuffs.

Merlin instantly understood, they were made to block magic, he could feel the dark magic emanating from them.

He took a deep breath, "Just let her go."

"No Merlin you can't" Freya started to scream before she was cut of by the man pressing the knife deeper into her throat.

"I'm sorry Freya" Merlin looked sadly at her.

Bryce motioned for two of his men to hold him, and they grabbed his arms and forced them behind his back. When he didn't resist them they clapped the cuffs shut around his wrists. He instantly felt them take affect pressing down on his magic, he suddenly felt incredibly weak and would have fallen to his knees if it weren't for the men still holding him.

Bryce looked pleased at him, "Now that wasn't so hard was it?"

Merlin glared up at him from where he was hanging from the men's arms breathing heavily.

Bryce grinned "Gag and collar him, we're leaving," he ordered and two men came forward holding strips of cloth and a golden metal collar. Merlin didn't even get a chance to understand what they were doing before they had forced the cloth into his mouth and locked the collar around his neck. What it was for he had no idea, but I probably wasn't good news for him.

When Bryce saw his angry expression he smiled "Aww don't look so mad, see I released the girl," he said and motioned to the man holding her. At his motion the man removed the knife only to slam the back end of it into the back of her head, and she fell to the ground unconscious.

Merlin desperately tried to get to her but the men held him tightly and his scream only came out as a muffled "fremght"

Bryce laughed at him and moved forward to fasten a chain to his collar and started walking dragging him behind him like a naughty puppy. Merlin growled at the treatment, and tried to break free from his bonds now that Freya wasn't in immediate danger. When he realised that he wasn't getting the cuffs of the tried with his magic instead, but as soon as he reached for it, he felt the cuffs burn hot against his bare skin and the collar tightened around his throat, he fell to his knees in pain and was forced to let go of his magic.

When Bryce felt him stop he turned around "Really Emrys I thought you knew better then to try something like that" he tsked.

Merlin only glared in response, it was not like he could say something in response. He realised that he wasn't going anywhere in a while and stumbled to his feet as Bryce pulled the chain and they started walking again.

**I had the afternoon free yesterday so I wrote another chapter, I hope you like it.**

**I was thinking of writing a chapter about how it was in the druid camp, but personally I just think those chapters are boring or what do you think?**

**Please review. *Makes**** puppy eyes*******


	10. It gets worse

**I don't own Merlin. **

They had been walking for hours, and Merlin was feeling really tired of the never-ending tugging on this collar. Bryce was still holding the chain leading to Merlin's collar, and every other minute he roughly pulled the chain making Merlin fall flat on his face, unable to catch himself with his hands bound behind his back, and every time he was starting to feel more and more angry at these people. They had just stormed into his for the moment perfect life with Freya and the druids, and they had hurt Freya and chained him up like a dog. They had even taken his magic, or kind of, he could still feel it inside of him, desperately trying to break free.

He had had enough, he had to fight back, he stubbornly dug his heels into the ground, grinding to a stop and making Bryce turn around.

When he saw the angry expression on Merlin's face he grinned "What has gotten you so upset now then Emrys?"

Merlin could only glare at him in response.

"Well spit it out then," he grinned if possible even wider and crossed his arms over his chest.

Merlin almost had some respect for the man when he only winced at the glare he was sending him, all the other men even took a step back. But Bryce only smiled at him, oh that was it, Merlin dug deep into his magic, forcing it to come forward he felt the cuffs burn and his collar tighten around his neck, his whole being felt as if it was on fire, but he refused to let go, he felt his eyes glow gold and he saw the men, even Bryce take a step back in fear just before he released his magic as he screamed through his gag. He saw all of the men fly backwards as he too fell to the ground panting in pain and exhaustion.

He kneeled there on the ground trying to catch his breath and was just about to get up when he heard a groan, he looked up to see Bryce trying to get up, he had apparently been lucky and had missed the trees and only flied backwards to land on his back.

Merlin forced himself to get up through the pain and he saw Bryce do the same.

"You really shouldn't have done that Emrys," he said with a murderous expression.

Merlin who still was gagged and bound realised that he didn't have a chance of defeating him, he wasn't able to summon his magic again his body couldn't take it. He had to run, but as if Bryce had heard his thoughts he said "Oh no you don't" he threw himself forward and grabbed the chain still leading to his collar and yanked it hard enough to make the warlock fall to the ground.

Before he had a chance to get up Bryce stepped forward and kicked him so he lay on his back with his hands awkwardly under him. He stared down at him and said with a smile "It seems like we have a problem, don't we Emrys?" he said and brought down his foot and kicked him hard in the head, and Merlin's world turned black.

-:break:-

When Merlin came to he had a hell of a headache, probably from when Bryce kicked him unconscious he thought angrily. The warlock shifted slightly and hissed when the shackles scraped against his burnt skin. Great just what he needed, tough he wasn't gagged anymore that's always something. He pulled at the chain connected to his collar and realised that it tied to a tree. _Damn that chain_, He suddenly saw that they had moved, they must have carried him, apparently they didn't have time to wait for him to wake up, where were they going anyway?

Merlin started looking around, they were still in the middle of the forest and it had grown dark, they men who he realised were fewer then they were before, was sitting around a campfire. He turned to look to his left and saw another man further from the fire obviously guarding him, though what for he had no idea, it wasn't like he was going anywhere.

The man saw that he was awake and screamed, "Boss he's awake."

One of the men, now obviously Bryce rose from his seat and walked over to him.

"Well hello there sleeping beauty," he said with a amused smirk.

Merlin only glared at him in response.

"Still mad are you Emrys?"

"Yeah, can't imagine why," Merlin rattled his chains dramatically.

Bryce suddenly lit up "Oh thanks for reminding me, I almost forgot, those chains weren't enough were they? Well I suppose you aren't Emrys for nothing." He pulled out two weird looking bracelets.

"What are those?"

"Oh nothing just some pretty jewels," Bryce grinned and crouched down next to him.

"'Hold him"

The "guard" took a tight grip on his legs looking nervous. _Oh hell like he was letting them put on even more things on him, like he wasn't restrained enough._ Merlin started to squirm and kick in the mans grip, he even got in a kick at his face to his delight, before Bryce sighed and called for more men to hold him, "Do you really need to be so difficult?"

Merlin only smiled cheekily in response "No I live to please you."

It took three men to hold the stubborn man down, before Bryce grabbed one of his ankles and snapped the "bracelet" shut, the moment he shut it, Merlin felt his body go weak, like he did when the cuffs where put on, he felt his already weak magic go even more beyond his reach and he started fighting more furiously, but he couldn't keep it up and soon the other "cuff" was fasten around his other ankle. Merlin fought to stay awake but eventually had to give up, the last thing he saw before he fell unconscious was Bryce's smirking face, "Good night Emrys, don't worry you're not going anywhere for a while, I'll be right here waiting for you when you wake up."

**Either you are getting tired of this story or my writing is suddenly even worse then before, either way I am getting a lot less reviews and things like that. Anyway I'm just wondering if I've started writing in a bad way or something, if I have please let me know. **

**I'm sorry for any grammar mistakes and stuff.**


	11. Training

**Thank you everyone who is still reading and reviewing this story! **

**So I've decided to write a chapter about what's going on in Camelot. It's a small time jump, so this is happening at the same time as the last chapter. (About Merlin)**

**Again I'm sorry for grammar mistakes and things like that.**

**I don't own Merlin.**

Arthur was once again walking towards the training grounds, just like he had when the dragon had come. He still couldn't believe it, the dragon he had killed wasn't dead, he had been sent away by Merlin, who apparently was a dragonlords as well as a sorcerer. How many secrets did he have? The king really couldn't see it in front of him, Merlin commanding a dragon, if someone would have told him that before he had found out about the magic he would have laughed and sent him or her to Gaius to get their head checked out.

But not after what he saw in the throne room that day, he had seen a new side of his servant, he had defeated that clearly powerful sorcerer like he was swatting a fly. Although the fact that a giant golden dragon was the one to tell him might have helped a bit too.

He reached the training grounds where his knight already was gathered, waiting for him, to his surprise Gwanie was there too, the knight hadn't been on many trainings since Merlin disappeared. He was still very angry with him, but at least he had stopped shouting and punching him. Arthur could understand him in a way, the knight had been close to Merlin and he was almost as upset about it as Arthur was, not that the king was going o admit to anyone just how much he still thought about it. What Arthur didn't understand however was why Gwaine was mad at _him_, he hadn't betrayed him, Merlin had.

When the knights saw him coming they stopped talking and stood to attention.

"Let's split up in pairs and start sparring, Percival with Leon, Elyan with Galahad, Gareth with Bedivere and Gwaine with me." He ordered the knights.

Arthur realised that going with Gwanie probably wasn't a very wise choice, but he wasn't going to let Merlin and his betrayal rule his life, at least that was what he kept telling himself. The knight looked a bit surprised at Arthur's choice of sparring partner but spread out went with their partners and left Gwaine and Arthur looking awkwardly at each other.

Gwaine drew his sword "Well what are you waiting for princess?"

Arthur grimaced at the nickname but drew his sword as well and took battle position.

They slowly started to circle each other their eyes never leaving the other, both looking for an opening.

Gwaine suddenly took a swing at Arthur, who easily blocked it, and the "duel" was on, they started trading blows. Both of the men really wanted to win this sparring match, they hadn't "fought" since the fight in Arthur's room and since Arthur had called for the guards that time this was like a rematch.

Gwaine was a skilled fighter and when he was focused which actually wasn't very often he was near impossible to beat. If Arthur wanted to win this he needed to make him unfocused which couldn't´ t be to hard considering the moos he had been in lately.

Arthur went for something simple and started grinning challenging, "Are you ready to get you ass kicked Gwaine?"

Gwaine glared at him, "Good luck with that princess," he said and started making harder and more violent blows at the king who was quick to respond.

"Getting a little angry there Gwaine, is something bothering you?" Arthur grunted out between the blows, it probably wasn't a very good occasion to have this conversation, it he didn't care at the moment.

The knight let out a laugh and forced Arthur to take a step back by shoving him away with his sword. "Something bothering me? Well for example I have an idiot for a king and said king have ordered my best friend's execution, and now he's on the run all alone, forced to leave his home,"

The men started circling each other again, "Gwaine he's a sorcerer he betrayed us," how could he defend him?

"You don't even think he deserves a chance to explain himself?" Gwaine faked a blow to the left and slashed at his right which Arthur barley avoided.

"There's nothing to explain, he is a evil, filthy sorcerer and he was never our friend," Arthur wasn't sure if he really meant that but he just didn't care at the moment and he was starting to get tired of his endless faith in Merlin, is he blind?

Apparently that was the last straw for Gwaine and he started swinging blow after blow at him, looking murderous "How can you say that after everything he has done for you?"

Arthur was fighting to block the harsh blows and was starting to breath heavily, but didn't answer the knight. The truth was that he was trying not to think about that, because that was the part that didn't make sense. Why would a sorcerer risk his life for him time and time again, why would he drink poison for him? Throw himself in front of the dorocha? What could he possibly gain from that? Was he trying to get his trust, but why? He already had it, maybe he didn't want to kill the king maybe he was after something else. But what? What could possibly make a sorcerer save the king of Camelot, the man who had hunted and killed his kind?

Gwaine was also staring to breath heavily and sweat was starting to form at both men's foreheads. But they kept going, none of them was willing to give up. Gwaine kept attacking Arthur and the king was only defending himself, not finding an opening between the knight's rapid blows.

Suddenly Arthur saw an opening and managed to get a swing of his own and the roles were reversed, both men had almost forgotten about the conversation they was having and was only focused on defeating the other. They kept trading blows until Gwaine suddenly twisted his sword so that Arthur's was forced to drop his and it flew through the air where Gwaine reached out and caught it. Gwaine smiled grimly and pointed both the swords towards Arthur's throat. Both men were panting and were staring into each other's eyes, daring the other to do, or say something.

"Why can't you give him a chance Arthur?" Gwaine said, still not lowering the swords.

"Why should I? Magic is evil, Merlin is gone forever, I have lost everything to magic, Morgana, my mother, my father, everyone I love and care about dies or betrayed me and it's all because of magic." Arthur answered truthfully.

Gwaine expression suddenly changed dramatically he went from boiling rage to sad and almost pitying "I know Arthur, I know," he said and pushed the king's sword into the ground and sheltered his own. He walked away from the training field and didn't look back.

Arthur didn't know how to react he had never seen the rough knight look so sad and pitying before. Gwaine had always been the one to lash out and scream at things when he got mad, and Arthur's still black eye from their fight in his room was proof of that. But apparently Arthur's words had some sort of impact on him. Why that was he had no idea though. Completely forgetting about the other knight he started waling towards the castle deep in thought.

The other knights didn't mind though, they looked at each other with knowing smiles maybe their king was finally starting to see sense.

**I hoped you liked it and if you did, please let me know, it always makes me happy when people like my writing. Or if you don't like it and know something that could make it better, let me know that too haha. **


	12. Arriving

**Sorry I haven't´ updated in a while, but "life" has started and I haven't got time to write so often anymore. But now I have and it's a pretty long chapter so I hope you will be happy anyway. I will not be able to update anything this weekend because I'm going away for a while.**

**Again I'm sorry for any grammar mistakes and stuff.**

**I don't own Merlin.**

Ahh great, a even worse headache was Merlin's first thought when he woke up. It felt like his head was going to split open. Like he hadn't got his head smashed enough times?

He groaned and slowly opened his eyes. He looked around and saw the men sitting at a camp fire again, eating and talking loudly, Merlin felt his stomach rumble, he hadn't eaten since he was taken and the smell of the meat over the fire didn't make the situation any better. He started to try to move, but soon realised that his hands where still tied and now the strange manacles around his ankles where connected with a chain. He could barley move. Oh this really is ridiculous, how many kinds of chains and stuff do they have? If there where anymore ways to restrain me, they probably would have done that to. He was all-powerful Emrys, but really? By now he almost couldn't feel his magic not matter use it.

He grunted behinds his gag as he tried to move so that he was sitting more comfortable against the tree they had tied and leaned him against.

After a bit of struggling he managed to get himself in a more dignified position and tried to find Bryce among the men. He needed to find out more about why they were doing this, and if he was going to be sold then to whom?

He spotted him sitting in the middle of the men laughing very loudly, is he drunk? As if he sensed his gaze Bryce turned to look right at him, and when he saw that he was awake he laughed even louder, how that even was possible, and said "Look boys, our favourite prisoner is awake," oh god this is not going to be fun, Merlin realised as the men also laughed and turned to look at his tied up form with evil smirks on their faces.

Bryce walked over to him, waving a half eaten rabbit bone in his hands.

"The mighty Emrys huh? Doesn't look so mighty to me," he laughed again and leaned down close enough for Merlin to feel his disgusting breath on his face.

"Tell me Emrys, what did a powerful sorcerer like yourself do in a small tavern out here?" he leaned back again and crossed his arms over his chest "Emrys is supposed to protect a king is he not? But I didn't see any kings?"

Merlin felt his heart stop at those words, he didn't know who the once and future king was did he? No, he can't he would have no way of knowing… right? Hold on, why I am so worried about him, he sentenced me to death… but he is still my king I just can't… Merlin was cut of from his thoughts by a rough hand untying his gag.

He licked his dry lips, trying to wet them enough to be able to talk.

"Well are you going to answer me?" Bryce asked him again.

Merlin glared at the smiling man "Why should I? You've kidnapped me!"

"Oh come, don't be like that, I'm just trying to be friendly here," He smiled even wider.

"Oh yeah friendly, friends always tie each other up," Merlin spat back, felling his anger rising.

"Well there are other ways of getting my answers," Bryce smiled.

Merlin inhaled sharply, he wouldn't put if above Bryce to use such methods, hell he probably would enjoy it. He mentally preparing himself for what was undoubtedly coming and squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the blows to start coming… But they never did, Merlin carefully opened his eyes to see an amused looking Bryce.

"But unfortunately we can't risk that, we need you in good health after all," The man really looked disappointed at that.

Merlin almost smiled, but suddenly became sullen, so they wanted to sell him after all, this was not looking good.

"So you're going to sell me, to whom?"

"Oh, we're not sure yet, but I'm sure there are plenty of people who would like Emrys for themselves."

Merlin sighed, he had no doubts about that, "Where are you taking me?" he asked instead.

Bryce laughed looking like he knew something like nobody else did, "It will be a lovely surprise don't you think?"

Merlin glared at the man "Yeah lovely" he said in a dry voice.

"See that's the spirit!" Bryce smiled and spread his arms out in a "happy" motion, with the other men chuckling slightly from their place at the fire, obviously overhearing a part of the conversation.

Merlin was just about to answer with an angry response but Bryce cut him of, "That's enough talking for, don't you think? " he said still with a big smile on his face. What was he so happy about anyway? He really is annoying, I don't know if I like him best when he's happy or angry, okay never mind that, I don't like him at all.

Bryce took the gag out of his pocket and before Merlin got a chance to do anything about it, he was gagged again. And Bryce looked even happier as he patted the warlock on the head, "Stay put" he said as if he was talking to a dog, and walked away, leaving a very pissed off Merlin behind.

-:Break:-

They had been walking for hours now, and Merlin was really starting to wonder where they were going. He was feeling a little bit better now though, he had gotten some food and water. But his headache wasn't better at all, but a least his ankles weren't chained together, so that he could walk freely.

But he still couldn't use his magic at all. It was starting to feel really uncomfortable, he hadn't felt or used his magic in a long time and considering how much his magic was a part of him that couldn't be a good thing.

Merlin looked up a bit towards the treetops, suddenly wondering where Kali where, he hadn't seen the bird since he got taken. He only hoped that he was safe and maybe even with Freya. Oh god he hoped she was okay, I was just his luck to get kidnapped when he finally had reunited with his love. Sometimes it really seemed like fate was against them, although on the other hand, they had been given a second chance, and that had to count for something, right?

As Merlin thought he kept looking into the shy to see if he could see Kali after all when he suddenly saw a dark looking castle against the blue sky. So that's where they were going, he thought. It really doesn't look like a friendly place though. Suddenly a bit worried about what they were going to do with him, he started to walk a bit slower and hoping that it would take a long time before they got there, he had a really bad feeling about it.

When they eventually reached the castle he realised it wasn't as big as he thought it was, it was just as scary though. The men kept walking through the gates and they reached a sort of courtyard, where a lot of people where walking around. Most of them where men with a lot of weapon, and none of them even battered an eyelid at the chained up warlock, probably because almost half of them had a prisoner of their own. Many of the prisoners had all kinds of cuts and bruises clearly visible with their rags for clothes which where hanging of their half-starved bodies.

What is this place? Merlin asked himself, is it some sort of a slave market? He worryingly looked towards a wooden stage in the middle of the courtyard. That had to be the explanation, but how could nobody notice this castle? He wasn't in Camelot, at least he thought he wasn't but he couldn't be sure. But if he wasn't in Camelot then he had to be in Lot's Kingdom. Merlin was suddenly starting to panic he started to struggle against Bryce grip on the chain still attached to his collar. Bryce turned to look at him with an angry and worried expression. What did he have to be worried about? Merlin didn't get far in his thoughts before Bryce yanked the chain making Merlin fall to his knees. He walked towards him and Merlin quickly got to his feet and looked the slightly taller man in the eyes with a determined look. 

Bryce glared back and took a tight grip on the warlock's bony shoulder, who tried to shrug it of. But Bryce apparently didn't like that as he leaned forward and hissed in his ear "Don't try anything Emrys, we really don't want anyone to find out just who you are now do we?"

Merlin instantly froze at that thought, he was surrounded by slave traders who probably would do everything in their power to make some money. If he wasn't careful everyone suddenly would be after "Emrys" and he really didn't want to be in the middle of a fight among these people. He sighed heavily beneath the gag and let himself be led by Bryce towards a couple stairs going down beneath the castle.

Bryce sent his other men away when they reached the guarded entrance and the two of them walked down. It was clearly the dungeons of the castle where the prisoners are held until they where sold.

Bryce stopped in front another pair of guards.

"I want this one in the most secure cell you got," he demanded.

The guards looked doubtfully at Merlin's chained up form, "He doesn't look very dangerous" one of them said sceptically.

Merlin almost growled under his gag, why did people always think that he was weak, he didn't look that harmless did he? Okay maybe he did, but that wasn't the point. He was getting tired of being underestimated, although Bryce didn't underestimate him now that he thought about it, well he had in the beginning but not anymore. And considering how hopeless he felt at the moment maybe he should be glad that he was being underestimated all the time after all.

Bryce apparently didn't like how the guard doubted him either as he hissed in a low voice "He has magic, and believe me when I say that you do not what him to escape these chains"

Apparently something in Bryce's voice or eyes convinced the guards because they pointed towards the end of the corridor of cells and said "The last one to the right, it's the most magic secure cell we got."

Bryce grinned smugly at Merlin and walked down and shoved him in it, and chaining him to the cell wall. "Sweet dreams, Emrys, a big day tomorrow" he gave the warlock a last look and closed and locked the door after him. Leaving Merlin alone whishing he had had tired to escape when he still had a small chance.

**In the next chapter you're going to find out what Freya has been up to.**

**Please let me know what you think!**


	13. I'm coming

**I sorry for any grammar mistakes and such.**

**I don't own Merlin.**

Freya woke up with someone shaking her shoulder gently.

"Freya, Freya wake up" a familiar voice begged her.

Oh god her head hurt, she confusingly sat up putting a hand to her head groaning. What happened? She couldn't remember; why couldn't she remember? She could barley think straight, her head was pounding.

Suddenly the voice broke through her blurry mind again.

"Freya, Freya can you here me?" she looked up see a very blurry and worried looking Ricgeon.

"Yeah… it's just my head," she answered trying to sit up straighter and looked around for the first time. She was in the camp, and everywhere she looked where destroyed tents and everyone was walking around trying to repair their homes and taking care of the injured. Some where sitting cuddled together crying over people they had lost. Her eyes watered up at the sight of her destroyed home what happened?

Ricgeon helped steady her and smiled slightly "It's perfectly normal, you took a really hard blow."

Freya looked at him "What? I can't remember… what happened?"

The druid looked slightly surprised but then quickly recovered " It's okay, it will come back to you soon, when you get a blow to the head like that you can get a kind of memory loss for a while."

Freya was confused, the last thing she remembered was walking towards hers and Merlin's tent, and then a fire and…

"NO! Merlin," she suddenly screamed, rising unsteadily to her feet.

They took him, and it was her fault, they used her against him. They had put those terrible chains on him, how could Emrys cope without his magic? He was magic it self, it must be terrible for him, a part of his soul cut of from the rest of him. He was defenceless and it was all because of her. She had to go after him, she had to save him. She had already lost enough time, her time was running out … NO don't think about that, think about Merlin, he needed her.

Ricgeon was looking at the confused girl with a sad expression.

"Yes they took Emrys, I sorry but there's nothing we can do, Bryce has him now and he is too powerful for us. I want to help Emrys, we all do but there's nothing to be done."

Freya sharply turned to look at him "You know him?"

"Yeah.. Everyone does, he is a kind of slave trader, but he is specialized in magic users, he takes them to the Dark castle, where they are sold, and never to be seen again, no one has ever managed to escape. Not even Emrys could, not without his magic and Bryce have the right tools for that."

Freya was still staring at him "The dark castle? Do you know where it is?"

Ricgeon fidgeted uncomfortably, "Yes everyone does. But there like I said there's no use, it's impossible to get in, and they…"

She cut him of "I don't care about what's possible and what's not, where is the castle?"

"Freya, you can't…" the druid started

Freya suddenly stepped closer to him with a murderous look in her eyes "Listen to me! I love him, and he would not hesitate for a second to go after me. He gave himself up to save me, this is MY fault and I'll be damned if I don't fix it again. Merlin is everything I have left, ever since I met him he was the one thing that mattered to me.

Do you know how me met? HE SAVED ME! I was sentenced to death, and he risked his life for me before he even knew my name. He is the most wonderful man I've never met and I will never meet someone like him again. I WILL SAVE HIM! And I demand that you tell me where that damn castle is, before I force it out of you!"

By the end of her rant, she was breathing heavily and was so close to him that their noses were almost touching. The druid was looking at her with a fearful expression, who knew sweet Freya could be so terrifying.

"It… it's by t-the the Cold mountains" he stuttered.

Freya smiled "Thank you." and started walking towards hers and Merlin's tent, leaving all of the druids staring in shock after her.

She entered their tent grateful that it hadn't been damaged. She started packing the things she would need for her trip. When she was done she walked out the tent and started walking out of the camp, there was no time to loose after all. They already had a head start and she needed to reach them as soon as possible. She had no idea how she was going to save Merlin though but she would think about that later.

Just as she had left the camp she suddenly heard a familiar screech. She looked up to see Kali flying towards her, she smiled at the sight of the bird. Maybe she didn't have to be completely alone after all.

"Hello Kali, where have you been," she said as the raptor landed on her shoulder.

The Merlin gave a screech in reply and she laughed, "Well now that you're done eating, how about you come with me and save Merlin?"

The bird almost looked guilty when she mentioned that Merlin was taken, and she felt sorry for the bird.

"Oh Kali it's not your fault, you didn't know, just come with me and help me?"

The bird whistled in response and Freya smiled again "Come on then let's go"

She started walking again with determined steps, this was going to be a long trip.

What if her time ran out even before she reached him again? Who would save him then? She needed to hurry, she didn't have much time left, hold on I'm coming Merlin.

**You might have noticed that my chapters sometimes come up two times for some reason if you know what I mean. I am sorry for that but I don't know why and it's really annoying for me too, because all my views on that chapter disappears to and I thinks it's interesting to find out about that.**

**Anyway I hope you liked it, if you did please let me know and if you didn't please let me know that too.**


	14. On the stage

**Here is another long chapter for you!  
Please forgive me for grammar mistakes and things like that.**

**I don't own Merlin.**

When Merlin woke up he had no idea of how long he had slept, a little light was coming from the small window though so it was a new day at least. He managed to make is aching body sit up against the wall, but he still wasn't comfortable. Which wasn't that strange considering he was a prisoner. But his whole body was acing it really wasn't nice to sleep with his hands tied behind his back and only a short chain between his collar and the wall. Bryce hadn't even bothered to take of the gag.

He groaned through that hateful gag and allowed himself to feel a bit sorry for himself. He really was screwed, his only comfort was that Freya was safe, surely she wouldn't try to come after him, right? She must realise that it was a suicide mission, but if he knew her right she probably wouldn't care. Oh Freya please be careful was the last thing he had a chance to think before the door slammed open and Bryce strode in with a giant smile on his face.

"Good morning Emrys!" he exclaimed, Merlin deadly glare doing nothing to stop him.

"Aww don't be like that, it's a big day today Emrys." he smiled even bigger, that probably meant bad news for him. Great.

"You see, we got here just in time for the big sale day. Lucky eh?" Merlin really didn't think it was that lucky but he still couldn't say anything. He only rolled his eyes and grumbled under the gag.

"Come on Emrys, let's go," he said as he took the chain and forced him up from the floor and before Merlin had a chance to start walking by his own Bryce shoved him out of the cell.

-:Break:-

When they got out of the dungeons Merlin squinted at the sunlight before his eyes got used to the bright light. There were even more people in the "court yard" this time. Now there were a lot of people without prisoners too, probably buyers Merlin thought.

All of them were gathered in front of the wooden stage he saw before, they were listening to a man standing on top of it talking about how the bidding was going to proceed. He was dressed in rich clothes and wore a big smile on his face that reminded Merlin of Arthur's when he greeted nobles he didn't like, incredibly false.

Bryce smiled excitedly at him and led him towards the back of the stage where other prisoners where gathered with there captors.

One of the men grinned when he saw Bryce and Merlin coming towards them.

"Only got one this time Bryce?" He asked and motioned to his 6 prisoners who were also wearing shackles or collars , one of them even had both. All of them where looking tired and dirty, he felt sorry for them even though he probably looked just as bad.

"Oh believe me this one is something extra," Bryce replied proudly and gave Merlin a shove in the back almost making him almost fall over.

"Yeah? How many points?"

Merlin was confused, what did he mean points?

Bryce leaned forward and whispered "10 x 3"

The man looked like he was going to faint, "What? No way! Nicely done Bryce" he clapped the other man on the back.

Bryce looked even more smug, "Believe me it is" He reached down and showed the man Merlin's cuffs on his ankles. The man gave handed his prisoners to one of his men who stood right next to him. He couched down and inspected them, and then moved on to his shackles and collar. Merlin was confused, what was he looking at?

When the man was done he had gone very pale and was staring at Merlin with wide eyes. Without looking away from him he asked Bryce "How on earth did you capture him?"

Bryce laughed at that "Oh believe me it wasn't easy, but everyone has a weak spot, in his case it was a girl. Freya was his name, right?" he looked at Merlin grinning happily.

Merlin glared at him and tried to shout at him through the gag, that pathetic excuse of a man didn't deserve to speak about Freya like that.

Both men laughed at him and Merlin felt his cheeks redden, he hated feeling so useless. He couldn't even defend Freya. Furiously his magic flared within him, ready to zap the laughing men to oblivion. But before it could, his whole body burned with pain and Merlin let out a sharp cry through the gag and fell to his knees in pain.

Both men had frozen the second his eyes had turned gold and was staring at him in shock.

Bryce was the first one to recover " How on earth are you doing that? I have put every possible restraint on you and you can still feel it."

The other man was even whiter in the face now "What kind of a creature is he? That's impossible."

He turned to look at Bryce. "Do you know where he's from?"

Merlin was still on his knees and in pain and could hear the men talking over him but he didn't care at the moment. After that attempt his magic had disappeared completely beneath the surface. He was starting to get really scared he wouldn't be able to take this for so much longer.

"I don't know where he's from. I do know what he is though."

The other man looked intrigued "Yeah?"

"Emrys," he said the name as if he was letting him in on a giant secret.

"As in THE Emrys?" the man looked awed at Merlin who had managed to get up from his knees and was glaring at them both.

"As in the Emrys yes."

"Oh god…" The man looked like he was going to fall over again. By now other people had stepped closer to the trio and some where looking at Merlin with awe and fear but some where looking at him like they wanted to eat him or something. This was not good Merlin thought, he really didn't want to get in the middle of a fight between these people. Apparently Bryce didn't want that either because he quickly grabbed Merlin's shoulder and pulled him closer, as if he was showing them that Merlin was his. The warlock didn't like it one bit but he didn't resist.

After standing there for a while in silence, the other man still staring at Merlin, the man on the stage screamed "Let's begin," and the crowd applauded.

After they had stopped applauding the man cleared his throat and said. "We start with the magic users as usual. We start low wit and under that," he said and some of the men led their prisoner up and the bidding started.

By they time the man had gotten to "5 x 2 and over that" Merlin had managed to understand the system.

The first number meant how much power there was in each restraint and the other number meant how many different kinds of restraints the sorcerer had. I was actually a pretty smart way to find out how much power a sorcerer had. As soon as he had thought that Merlin grimaced, how could he think that? It was barbaric.

His thoughts were interrupted by the man who Merlin had decided to call Smiley because of his false smile "And today we even have some threes"

Merlin gulped, that was him, Bryce smiled "Show time," and they walked onto the stage together with 3 other men each of them with a prisoner. Merlin realised that he was the youngest by far and that the others where much bigger than him, and all of them had the same restrains as Merlin.

They were lined up with their captor on their left side Merlin stood on the end of the line to the left and Smiley walked over to the right and looked at the man who was a muscular and in his 40s, when Merlin thought about it he didn't look like a sorcerer at all. Apperntly Smiley didn't think so either because he smiled and said, "How about we do the test? Just to make sure." The man's captor instantly became white in the face and sweat started to from on his brow.

Smiley smiled even more at that and took a ring out of his pocket. Before Merlin got a chance to figure out what it was for Smiley put it on the man's finger and… nothing happened.

The man captor started to stutter excuses. "Please I didn't know I…"

Smiley smiled _again_ and said in a steady voice, "Get them out of here." Instantly four guards came up and dragged them from the stage. Considering how much the man was screaming they weren't going to a nice place.

Smiley turned to the crowd "We really don't want any fakes now do we?"

The crowd cheered and laughed in response and Smiley moved on to the next man, who also was in his 40s but he wasn't as muscular. But Smiley did the test anyway, as soon as the ring was placed on his finger the man screamed in agony through the gag and fell to his knees.

Merlin flinched at the reaction and Bryce grabbed his shoulder "It forces the magic forward, but because his magic is trapped it hurts a bit," he smiled at that" If you have little power it only stings a bit but considering how much you have this could be fun," he whispered gleefully.

Merlin paled oh no.

Smiley smiled "Now there's a real sorcerer "3 x 3 not bad"

The mans´ captor looked proud and smiled happily at the man still kneeling at his feet.

Smiley moved on to Merlin who did his best to glare at the man.

"What do we have here then? Bryce with another trophy?"

Bryce didn't answer he only smiled at Smiley who said "Well let's put him to the test shall we?"

As soon as Smiley reached for his hands Merlin started struggling against Bryce's grip he did not want that on his finger.

Bryce in turn took a stronger hold on him and after the men had struggled for a bit Merlin felt something cold slid onto his finger.

**I know, it's kind of a cliff hanger hehe… I think I will write another chapter about Merlin now but I'm not sure… What do you think? **

**And what do you think about this chapter?**


	15. Sold

**I already had this chapter finished and I just wanted to post something. You simply have to wait a while longer before you find out what's going on in Camelot.**

**Once again I am sorry for any grammar mistakes and stuff like that.**

**I don't own Merlin**

He thought he knew pain, he thought it had hurt when he was poisoned when he got stung by the serkets. But all those things where nothing compared to this. All Merlin knew was pain, it felt like his insides where burning, his magic was fighting fruitlessly inside him trying to get out oh god it hurt. Make it stop please make it stop…

Suddenly it did stop. Merlin was brought back to the courtyard. He realised he was laying on the stage panting through the gag. His throat was strangely raw, had he been screaming?

He managed to get up to his knees and looked up towards Bryce and Smiley.

Bryce was smiling at down at him looking very pleased with himself.

Smiley on the other hand just looked very shocked, he blinked down at him but suddenly he seemed to get himself together.

"Well that was something different ladies and gentlemen, I am willing to bet that we are in the presence of a "legend". Am I right Bryce?" Smiley looked towards the still smiling man.

"Indeed you are, allow me to introduce to you, the mighty Emrys."

Merlin was still on his knees and was feeling humiliated, he wasn't going to just kneel at their feet like some kind of dog, he wasn't weak. They hadn't defected him yet. He started to get up but Bryce was quick to push him down again.

"No worries people he is perfectly contained. I have restrained him in every possible way, he ´s not going anywhere." he said reassuringly to the crowd who had started to shift nervously when he told them who he was.

Merlin gave him a deadly glare at that announcement and Bryce's smile faltered slightly.

Smiley on the other hand smiled again and put his hand on Merlin's shoulder to leaned nonchalantly on him. Merlin growled at him but he only smiled down at him and winked mockingly. "Well people who wants to buy themselves the most powerful sorcerer in the world?"

Instantly people started shouting amounts of money Merlin hadn't even seen in his life. Bryce smile was growing bigger and bigger at each amount that was shouted.

Merlin was looking out over the sea of people disgusted by their greedy expressions. Everyone wanted to buy him, to "own" him, they didn't spare _him_ a thought. All they cared about was his power, about what he could do. They treated him like some kind of weapon, an object. They all wanted him for themselves and thought that they could get that with money. Oh, but he was going to prove them wrong, he was going to show them who he really was, they would never break him. His magic was meant to be used for good, not for the evil plans they undoubtedly already had planned.

After a couple of minutes of people shouting out money, it finally came down to a man wearing rich clothes and some kind of crest Merlin hadn't seen before. He was another giant of a man and he looked like he without a doubt would give Percival a run for his money. When he realised he had won the betting he smiled and looked straight into his eyes. Merlin glared back and the man chuckled slightly as he walked up on the stage with a _huge _amount of gold.

He gave Bryce the money who staggered under the weight of it and reached out to grab the chain still attached to Merlin's collar.

Bur apparently Bryce had something else in mind "Oh no, I said you could have him not the restrains, do you know how expensive these are?"

The man was starting to get red in the face and said, "So what do you expect me to do? Take them of?"

"Well yes you could do that, but it wouldn't be very smart," Bryce said smoothly.

"Of course if wouldn't, so give them to me." The man demanded.

"You will have to pay for them first." Merlin was starting to get what he was playing at, that greedy son of a bitch.

"What?!"

"Or I'll just take them of," Merlin felt his hand reach down towards his collar, just a little but further and he would open it.

Apparently the man realised that too as sweat was starting to form at his brow and he looked nervously at Merlin furious face.

Suddenly Merlin felt Bryce twist his hand and… the collar was open. He felt a little bit of his magic come back. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time finally he could fight back in some way. He reached for it and quickly made his gag loosened, with an almost inhuman roar hasn't it out in a big shockwave of pure power. The men closest to him flew back and Merlin was left alone on his knees panting with exhaustion. He was just about to send of another wave when he felt something hit his neck. Confused he put his hand at the spot and felt something stick out of it. What? He was starting to feel dizzy… what was happening…. "NO!" he let out a weak yell. No he can't not when he was so close. But he couldn't hold on any longer and he fell into unconsciousness.

Bryce slowly made his way up from where he had been thrown back, he walked straight past the man who was going to buy the warlock who was also starting to get up.

"Are you mad?!" he exclaimed, "Releasing Emrys!" He stopped Bryce with a hard grip on his arm.

"Relax, I had my men ready for this," he said in calm voice and motioned to about a dozen men spread out across the court yard armed with crossbows and other kinds of long distance weapons.

The buyer calmed down slightly but still wasn't happy. "But why?! Why did you do that? What was the point of such a risk?"

"I needed you to see exactly who you're dealing with. You cannot let him escape, do you hear me? If you do he will come after me, and I _do not_ want _the_ Emrys on my back," as he said this he pulled loose from the man's grip and walked over to the warlock and put the collar back again. Even in his unconscious state it still had an affect on the warlock, he shivered in his sleep and let out a small whimper.

Bryce straitened and turned towards him, "Do we have a deal?" he held out a hand.

The man looked at it for a second before turned to look him in the eyes, "We have a deal," the two men grinned at each other and shook hands.

**I hope you liked it, please let me know what you think.**


	16. The idiot king

**I am SO SORRY for the long wait but I just didn't have time to write anything until now. Please forgive me for any grammar mistakes.**

**I don't own Merlin.**

Just because nobody talked about it, didn't mean that no one knew or thought about it.

It was a big whole in Camelot, a big Merlin shaped hole, the man himself probably didn't know about it but he had always been loved and cared about in the city. Everyone missed him, even the head cook Mary couldn't deny that, though not the part where he always stole her cookies.

At first people couldn't believe that _Merlin _was a sorcerer, when the word got out people just laughed it of, not believing them. But when they saw how their previously happy and relaxed king got solemn, stricter and formal they realised that it maybe was true after all. So with fear and worry in their hearts they went to the queen to ask her for the full story.

When they did she would always smile sadly and ask them one question "Have you ever seen Merlin do something to hurt anyone?"

When they would shake their head in denial she continued, "Neither have I, and let me tell you something. When I saw him defeat that sorcerer with all that power, I felt so angry, betrayed, but most of all I was hurt. I thought that he had betrayed us, but believe me when I say that we were the ones to betray him. _We_ turned our backs at _him, and_ if I ever see him again I am never letting him go again. All that is left now is to wait for our idiot of a king to realise that to."

After hearing the honesty in their wise and kind queen they went home and did just that, waited for their idiot king to realise the truth.

But despite all this businesses hah to move on like usual, there was nothing anyone could do to get him back. Anyone but the king himself of course. But he was as stubborn and confused as ever. Everyone noticed how much he missed his servant of course, how he sometimes during a especially boring council meeting could turn towards the former servant usual spot behind him, expecting to see him standing there making funny faces to annoy him, but always managing to bring a smile to the kings face. But when he realised that he wasn't there and remembering why and he would get a sad and empty look in his eyes. He was once again the cold and formal king again.

-:Break:-

Arthur was walking through the lower town heading towards the blacksmith to pick up his new sword. He didn't use the sword he pulled out of the stone anymore, he said it was because he didn't want to ruin the famous sword, but the real reason was the person he had led him to it and made him pull it out in the first place.

He refused to talk about his former servant, he tried to pretend that he never existed. Unfortunately that was hard since everything around him reminded him of the warlock. He hadn't realised how much time he spent with him until he was gone. He had thought a lot about what Gwanie said, not that he would admit to anyone that he actually listened to the knight but he had made him think. Maybe everything wasn't so black and white after all. But he tried to tried to convince himself that the only reason that the knight thought as he did was because he was in denial, he was almost as close to Merlin as he was. It was probably hard to think badly about his friend, yes that must be it.

He thoughts were suddenly interrupted by something tugging at his jacket. No scratch that, _someone _was tugging at his jacket. He looked down to see a small boy, he was maybe about 5 years old and had dirt all over his ruff-looking clothes and brown hair.

"Yes?" Arthur asked when the boy only kept looking at him with big brown eyes.

He quickly released Arthur's jacket when he spoke as if he hadn't expected him to say something to him.

"Sire…." he started and when Arthur didn't object he continued, "Do you know where the funny man with the big ears is? He always says that he has to go to you when he leaves." he finally squeezed out in a small voice.

Arthur drew in a sharp breath when he realised who the boy was talking about, although why a random little kid could know who Merlin was he had no idea.

"Umm." he was uncertain on how he was going to answer the boy, should he tell him the truth or just come up with some excuse?

"He, he was a sorcerer so he…"

The boys eyes got if possible even bigger and he squeaked "But mummy says that sorcerers are evil." the boy's face screwed up in concentration and confusion.

"Your mother is right about that," Arthur answered as calmly as he could.

The boy continued to look confused "But she can't be, the big eared man isn't be evil." he stated with a sudden determination.

At the boy's simple and sure statement Arthur froze. "_But she can't be, the big eared man isn't be evil." _For some reason that struck him like a punch in the gut, if it was because of the certainly in the boys voice or his big eyes he had no idea, butwhat if he was right? Maybe he hadn't been wrong about Merlin, maybe he had been wrong about magic. Maybe… maybe Merlin wasn't evil, maybe having magic didn't make you evil.

He thought back to the times before he knew about Merlin's magic, how he hated hunting because he thought it was unfair to the animals, all the times he had risked his life to saves other's, including his own, more than once actually. He'd thought Merlin was the most caring and innocent person he had ever met before that day. And the moment he saw his friend's eyes turn gold he had just forgotten about all the things they had done together. _, "The big eared man isn't be evil" _truer words have never been spoken.

He let out a laugh in happiness, how could he have been so blind?! Merlin hadn't betrayed him!

He turned toward the now scared looking boy, (he couldn't blame him really, he must look like a mad man with a giant grin covering his face.)

"What's your name?" he asked still grinning madly.

"Kay," the boy mumbled.

"You are a very clever boy Kay, and I am an idiot, thank you for clearing that up for me." Arthur smiled not caring that he just called himself an idiot. Kay gave the king a big smile and suddenly ran off towards one of the houses further down the street.

Arthur started walking, but soon started running towards the castle, completely forgetting about the sword he was going to pick up at the blacksmith.

-:Break:-

Gwen was sitting at her desk and going through some papers, she was actually pretty bored. She missed her friend, Merlin always made her so happy, he made everyone happy really. Including her husband who she hadn't seen smile in a very long time, she was worried about him, he really needed to stop being an idiot, like she had told people who had come to ask about the former servant. She hoped that she had convinced them that Merlin really was good, he didn't deserve to be hated, he…

The door suddenly slamming open interrupted her thoughts and a madly grinning Arthur stormed through.

"Guinevere!" He exclaimed. The woman in person didn't know what to think, what's happening?

"We should have kids!" he announced sill grinning madly clearly not caring about how wrong that sounded.

Gwen dropped the papers she was holding, and gave him a disbelieving look, "What?!"

"Do you have any idea about how clever they are? We need some more people in the council, maybe we should hire some 5 year olds," he said looking thoughtful, ignoring his wife's shocked face.

"Arthur what are talking about, and NO we will not hire any five year olds," she

exclaimed.

At Guinevere´s confused and slightly angry voice he sobered up, "I just realised how much of an idiot I am." He walked closer to her, still sitting at her desk with a lot of papers in front of her.

She sighed, "Arthur tell me from the beginning, and please sit down for a moment."

Arthur sat down opposite to her and told her about his meeting with the little boy.

When he was done she only stared at him with an expressionless face, just when Arthur was beginning to worry that something was wrong with her she burst out laughing.

Her husband could only stare at her in surprise, was the shock too much for her or something?  
"Guinevere?" he said hesitantly.

"You really are an idiot, half the city have already realised all this." she managed to say to the surprised king.

"Half the city?" his smug smile faltered.

She smiled, "Oh Arthur you have no idea of how worried I've been, you have been so solemn lately, I haven't seen you smile in ages."

Arthur suddenly realised the truth in her words. "That bad uh?"

"I'm afraid so." She reached out and took his hand gently. "The question is: what are you going to do now?"

He looked down sadly, "I don't know if he even want to come back. After what I did to him.., how could he possibly forgive me?"

"He will Arthur, he will always be loyal to you, no matter what." She cupped his face in her hands and lifted his chin so he had to look her in the eyes.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Go and talk to Gaius, he will explain everything to you" she smiled at her husband's confused face.

"Just trust me," she insisted.

"Always, Guinevere, always," he said and walked out the door towards the physician's chambers.

**I am soooo nervous about posting this chapter, I really hope you liked it! Please let me know what I did wrong and what you liked!**


	17. Keep going

**I know it's been a while… again, and I'm sorry for that. Especially since this is a short and pretty uneventful chapter. But I'm doing the best I can.**

**Again I am sorry for any gamma mistakes and things like that.**

**I don't own Merlin.**

OBS. This is the night before Merlin is sold.

They had been walking without stopping for a day now and had already slept outside one night. Freya's back was aching because of the uncomfortable forest ground and she felt like she was going to fall over in exhaustion at any moment. But she had to keep going and they were getting closer. They could finally see the dark castle. It stood like a big dark shadow against the cold White Mountains in the background. She gulped nervously, at least it definitely lived up to it's name.

But in a way the frightening building gave her strength to keep going. She had a destination to reach and she had to get there soon before it was too late. Ridgeon's words were echoing in her head. "_He takes them to the Dark castle, where they are sold, and never to be seen again"._ She was just about to start walking again when she suddenly fell to her knees in pain. She gasped and fell to the floor desperately wanting it all to stop, it hurt everywhere. The pain was somehow streaming out like poison from her heart and had to hold back a scream. But suddenly it all stopped and she lay panting on the ground with a worried Kali sitting next to her. She took a deep breath and shakily sat up, "Its okay Kali, I'm okay," she said calmly to the bird.

_Her _words were echoing in her head "_You will experience unimaginable pain in the final stages, before…_" no she can't think like that, she knew what she agreed to when she made the deal, she had to focus on Merlin, he needed her. She rose to her feet and started walking in a faster pace, she had to get there before it was too late.

But no matter how determined and worried she was she wasn't a machine and she had to stop and rest. It was already dark outside and the light she had conjured up wasn't that bright. So they had to stop and, Freya and Kali set up a small camp and shared the food she had brought from the camp.

With a promise to herself that she would get up early the day after she put up a spell, so that she would notice if someone got close to the camp. It was a really useful spell and she didn't know how she would have managed without it. Merlin had taught her it and he had said that it was one of the most useful spells he knows. She didn't know what he meant back then but now she understood. And with that thought she fell into an uneasy sleep, filled with nightmares.

-:Break:-

(Just to make things clear: this is at the same time as the "sold" chapter is.)

She and Kali managed to get up early and despite their uneasy and short sleep they felt rested and ready to go when the sun rose in the sky, and they managed to reach the castle after a couple of hours.

They stood just at the outskirts of the forest and were watching the castle through the trees. It was even more frightening up close and there were guards at the entrance and Freya was really starting to worry. How in the hell were they supposed to get inside?

Kali wasn't very calm either he was shrieking nervously and flying in circles around her.

"You need to calm down Kali, they will here you," she whispered to the bird, even though they probably wouldn't find it strange if they heard a bird in the forest.

Kali stopped shrieking and reluctantly sat on her shoulder.

"Okay we really need a plan.. got any ideas?" she asked the bird, ignoring the fact that she wouldn't be able to understand him even if he had a plan.

But before the bird had a chance too answer they heard a loud roar coming from the castle, but that was not what made them freeze. It was the power emitting from the castle. If felt like a big shockwave of magic and her head snapped back with the force of it. She gasped loudly she recognized the magic, she would recognize it anywhere, but something seemed of about it. What made him so desperate that he forced his already weak magic to act?

Without thinking she rushed out of their hiding place and ran through the now unguarded gates only to stop in terror of what she saw. It was a big courtyard with a big wooden stage in the middle of it. In front of it was a loud crowd with people but the ones closest to the stage was lying on the ground, some of them where starting to stand up but she realised that some of them would never stand up again. But what really caught her eye was who where on the stage.

Bryce and another man were shaking hands with equally big grins on their faces, and Merlin was laying at their feet chained up and unconscious.

She was just about to run forward to save him when she stopped herself, there where too many of them, she would never be able to fight them all. It would only lead to her own capture and Merlin would never forgive her if she got herself taken while trying to save him. Never mind that, if she were captured who would save Merlin?

She carefully moved towards the crow to blend in and as she watched the other man who was still talking to Bryce she decided that she would have to follow him and Merlin and wait for an opening, and hope that her time hadn't run out by then.

**Hope you liked it, let me know what you think, your support means A LOT!**

**You'll find out more about Freya's deal later….**


	18. James

**I don't own Merlin.**

The first thing that Merlin realised when he came to was that he wasn't gagged anymore. Slightly surprised he slowly opened his eyes and blinked rapidly to clear his blurred sight. He was once again in a dungeon and his chains where connected to the wall although it wasn't as tight as it was before, he could actually move around a bit in the cell. The cell itself had four stonewalls and a small barred window opposite to a wall with a big wooden door. All in all this was the most comfortable he had been since he had been captured there was even some straw on the floor acting as a bed. But he tried not to think about what the bucket in the corner was for. But he realised that if his new captor wasn't as strict as Bryce he might have a chance to escape. But first he probably needed to get the magical restrains of him, and they probably weren't going anywhere. He had no chance of escaping his cell without his magic, which was squirming uncomfortably inside him, it almost seemed like it had cabin fever. Can magic have cabin fever?

The magic he managed to release the yesterday, at least he thought it was yesterday he had no idea about how long he had been unconscious, apparently wasn't enough.

He was starting to get a bit worried if he didn't get out of restrains soon things were going to get a lot worse. He remembered once when he was little when he had overheard some kids in his village talking about how bad magic was and how everyone who had it were monsters. He had been so horrified that he had stopped using his magic altogether. First it was fine and nothing happened, but after a few days he had started to feel weak and sick, eventually his veins had started to glow gold and he was feeling worse for every hour that went by. Eventually his mother had noticed that something was wrong and when she saw his golden veins she put two and two together. She had NOT been happy with him, it was one of the few times his mother had gotten really angry at him. Back then he thought that it was just because he had done something wrong, but now he understood that she was just really worried, he probably would have died if she hadn't realised what was wrong. But as soon as he started using his magic again, he had instantly started to feel better and after that incident he promised himself that he would never stop using magic like that again.

But now when he didn't have a choice he was kind of screwed, his hands were shackled in front of him now so he had full view over his arms and his veins hadn't turned gold yet so at least that was a good sign. But he knew that it wouldn't be long before he was staring to feel even worse than he felt now.

Suddenly he heard footsteps outside his cell door and he quickly sat up straighter against the cell wall, now that he actually could talk back he wasn't going to just sit there and be quiet. Hell, the whole of Camelot knew that he couldn't shut up if his life depended on it.

The door opened and the man he had seen at the "auction" walked in with a big pleased grin on his face. _Great another one who smiles all the time, _he thought irritated.

"Hello there, nice to see you awake, my name is James, pleasure to meet you." The man made a mock bow.

Merlin only glared at him and the man laughed, "Well you look happy," he said sarcastically.

"Yeah wonder why," Merlin snapped back at him.

"Oh come on, you have to admit that you have been treated pretty well." James crossed his arms over his muscular chest and looked amused by the warlock's irritation.

"Yeah absolutely, although I have one complain," He made a dramatic pause," I would like to get these things of me," he rattled his chains.

"Sorry can't do that… everyone knows that you should´t let bird out of its cage if might fly away, and we wouldn't want that do we Merlin?" he laughed at his apparently hilarious joke.

Merlin was not amused by the bird comparison, and how in the hell did he know his real name? Did he know about Arthur too? Merlin felt worry for the king starting to grow against his will. He didn't owe that prat anything, he sentenced him to death.

But before Merlin had a chance to voice his questions his captor interrupted him.

"I have a question for you Emrys,"

"I have a few for you too."

"Where is your king?"

"Because I know the legends you know, _Emrys and the once and future king_. Well here is Emrys but I don't see any kings around here," he looked around as if he expected him to show up out of thin air.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Merlin asked confused.

"Nothing really, I'm just curios, soooo where is he?" James looked at him waiting for an answer.

"Not here" Merlin answered dryly, like hell he was going to tell him anything.

"He sentenced you to death didn't he _Mer_lin? He hated you the second he found out the truth. It must have hurt, the one man you have protected for so many years, he never cared about you, how could he? You are just a filthy sorcerer after all. What was it he said? Oh I remember, _"Magic is evil, and those who practise it deserve to die."_ that includes you too, you're no different from the others."

Merlin felt his spirit falter more for each word he said, he was right after all, that was exactly what happened. He had tried to bury it deep down, to try to live a new life with Freya and the druids. But deep down the feeling of betrayal and sadness had always been there, he had never stopped thinking about Camelot, not really, it hurt too much to just push down and move past. But he had tried, oh he had tried so hard, but James words dug everything up again and he felt like he was drowning in it all. He missed the old times, he missed Camelot, he missed Gaius, the knights, Gwen and above all Arthur. Not the angry and sad Arthur he had left in the throne room, he missed _his_ Arthur, the Arthur he had woke up every morning, and faced so many threats with. He missed his once and future king.

There was a long moment of silence before James spoke again.

"How are you supposed to fulfill the prophecy now eh? You are nothing but a broken shell of a man without your king." he laughed as if is the funniest thing in the world.

Merlin failed to see the funny in the situation and felt his anger grow. He rose to his feet and started walking towards the man with determined steps, but just before he could reach him the chains stopped him and Merlin growled slightly in anger. Which of course only made him laugh again.

"It seems like you're stuck Emrys?"

"What do you want from me?" he forced himself to change let it go and change subject.

"I want you" he jabbed a finger in his chest "to do something for me."

Merlin actually laughed at that "And what would that be then?" he said rolling his eyes.

"Oh nothing, just sign a small piece of paper," he said innocently.

"Sign what?"

"It won't hurt a bit, just a small cut to get some blood to write in, but you're a big boy so you can handle that right?"

Merlin was starting to get where this where going "A spell," he stated.

"Aren't you a clever one" he ruffled Merlin's hair much to the warlock's annoyance.

"Let me guess; it makes me do you bidding and you want me to become your personal weapon"

"Spot on," the man smiled at his "clever" plan."

"Never," Merlin growled, and James smile fell.

"I think I can find a way to convince you." He said confidently and Merlin realised what he meant, he felt panic rising up his throat but he forced it down.

"Do you really think that you could torture me into submission?" he spat at him.

"Oh yes, believe me boy, where I have absolutely no talent for magic I am an expert in torture."

Merlin didn't doubt him for a second but fought down his fear and stared the man in the eyes "Good luck with that, I will never serve you!"

James didn't answer but motioned for the guards to take him and they released him from the wall. Two guards grabbed his arms and dragged him down the corridor with his captor leading the way.

After walking through a mace of corridors they reached a wooden door, Merlin's stomach clenched at the thought of what undoubtedly was inside. 

Merlin considered himself pretty brave, considering what he had faced with Arthur who could blame him? But what he saw inside that room was enough to make even him fear for himself. The first thing that hit him was the smell, burned flesh and blood perfumed the air and there were chains and all kinds of torture tools and knifes. They started to lead him towards a kind of table with chains in each corner.

He instantly started struggling but there was no use and soon he was strapped to the table, the panic starting to gather with the man's growing smile.

"Not so brave now are you Emrys?" James looked pleased as he started to pick out knife after knife and put it next to Merlin.

"Go to hell!"

"Oh no, you're the one who's going to hell."

**I hoped you liked it and if you did please let me know!**


	19. Emrys and the once and future king

**Hellloooo! Did you miss me? *****Dodging rotten tomatoes***** I know it's been a loooong time. And I know that there is no excuse especially since this is the shortest chapter EVER. But I've had a terrible writers block and a LOT of things have been going on lately and school has been TERRIBLE. (Still is) But I managed to write a short chapter, I have some big plans for this story. Mohahahahaha! *****Clears throat awkwardly***** anyway, on with the story. **

**I don't own Merlin. **

Gaius had a fairly normal day, he was busy with his duties and with Merlin gone he had to do everything by himself. The warlock was actually a good physician, but that's probably what happens when you live with the court physician. He was a quick learner when he wanted to and apparently herbs where more interesting than cleaning the letch tank. He really missed the warlock, he had grown into a son to him and now that he was gone he didn't know what to do. He remembered the bumbling boy that came to Camelot all those years ago, that boy had grown into a man, and he couldn't be more proud. If only he wasn't such a self-sacrificing idiot, at least he had the brains to get out of Camelot. Although that probably was more because of anger than fear. The only thing he could hope for what that Arthur would come to his senses soon, god knows that he needs to. Without Merlin Camelot was as good as defenceless, and sooner or later they were going to need their secret warlock.

He sighed and sat down at the table, and was just about to open a book about some interesting herbs he had found in the forest the other day, when he heard a soft knock at the door. "Come in," he called lightly.

But to his surprise the very man he had been thinking about walked through the door, with big confused eyes. He reminded the physician of when he was still a boy and had found about that his mother had died giving birth to him. The poor 4 year old had been so guilty and confused, he thought it was hit fault that his mother died. Arthur had the exact same expression now, but Gaius couldn't figure out what he had to be guilty about.

"Could you tell me something Gaius?" the king asked him after a moment of silence.

"It depends on what it is," he physician said gesturing for Arthur to sit down next to him.

"Why was Merlin so loyal to me?" he asked him, as he took a seat next to the older man.

Gaius almost fell of his chair in shock, that was definitely not what he was expecting. But he smiled and took a deep breath.

"That my king is a very long story."

Arthur looked him in the eyes with a determined look, "Please tell me, I need to know."

"There is a prophesy about Emrys, the greatest and most powerful sorcerer to ever walk the earth. He is destined to protect and advise the Once and future king. Together it's said that they will unite the land of Albion and bring magic back to the land, to revive the Old Religion to coexist with the New Religion and calling forth an era of peace and prosperity."

Arthur looked at him with wide shocked eyes, "Are you telling me what I think you are?"

"You ARE the once and future king Arthur, and Merlin is definitely Emrys,"

"How can you be so sure? I mean how could MERlin be this all-powerful warlock? He cant even find his own backside most of the time?"

"Do you really believe that Arthur? Have you really completely fallen for his servant facade? Have you never seen the true man behind the mask?" Gaius looked at the king with a meaningful look.

Of course he had, Arthur had always know that something was off about his manservant, ever since he met the boy that day in the marketplace. There was always something there, something beneath the clumsy servant façade. Something he hadn't been able to put his finger on earlier. But now he knew, every once in a while when Arthur really needed him to, he had taken his mask of, if only for a short moment. He had shown his true face, the wise all-powerful Emrys. With his wise speeches and undying faith in his king. Arthur had always known he was there in some ways but he hadn't wanted to admit that his servant had to different faces. One was the clumsy, idiotic servant and the other was the one in the shadows, the one buried deep deep down but still only protected by a thin layer, Emrys the warlock.

He turned to look at the physician "Emrys and the once and future king?"

"Emrys and the once and future king," Gaius confirmed.

"Well I better go and find my other half then."

**Hope you liked it, let me know if you did;)**


	20. Author's note

**Author's note:**

I have been on vacation, so that's the reason I haven't been able to write anything for a while, but I really can't help it. Anyway, I got home today but the thing is that I going to the US tomorrow. I don't know if I will be able to update while I'm there. I am really exited about it and I have lots of plans so I can't promise anything but I will do my best.

Sorry again, and thank you for not giving up on me it means A LOT!


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